Chemical contamination from spray drift

Chemical contamination of food items throughout your food organization can be easily avoided. It actually is common sense and fundamental food safety not to spray pest or cleaning chemical substances directly on the food – Right? You would probably guess so but nonetheless, it is this very situation that concluded in me issuing several corrective action requests (CAR) during my time as a food auditor.

I have had two separate food safety incidents in the previous months where chemical contamination of the food due to human error has occurred. The first incident occurred while I was observing a food handler cleaning a food preparation area and the second involved an abnormal chemical being reported by a food testing laboratory.

Basic cleaning gone wrongChemical contamination of Food

On the first occasion, I was standing watching a food handler cleaning a piece of equipment. Cleaning chemical was being applied on the surface of a piece of equipment utilizing a chemical spray bottle. The food handler continued to spray the chemical without any concern for the nearby open ingredient containers that included lettuce, tomato, beetroot and cheese.

I could physically see the chemical spray-drift landing on top of the ready-to-eat food products. After observing this practice, the food handler was questioned but really had no thought that their cleaning actions were actually contaminating the food with chemicals. The food handler also had zero knowledge of the food safety implications of this type of chemical contamination.

Food laboratory testing identifies chemical contamination food safety hazard

In the second incident it was not so obvious in that I did not actually see the chemicals landing on the food.  As part of the food certification process, the food business is required to undertake chemical testing of the finished product. This is a fundamental requirement especially where the growing and packing of produce (fruit, vegetables and fungi) is concerned. A piece of produce was subjected to testing for a variety of pesticides as part of the food company’s routine food safety verification plan. There are laws stipulated as to the amount of pesticides that are allowed to be on the surface or within fresh produce. When the laboratory report came back to the food business, it showed that there was an excessive amount of pesticide in the product.

The chemical identified was not one that is usually associated with the growing, farming or processing of produce. It was not until the third party certification audit process that the source of the chemical was identified. After a little bit of investigation it was uncovered that the chemical was the exact same active constituent found in every day domestic ‘fly spray’. Several cans of ‘fly spray’ happen to be located all around the food premises. So in brief, flies and insects were being controlled by food handlers spraying surfaces and the air. There was no consideration on their part of the possible effect of the drift-spray landing directly on the surface of the produce.

I really hope these two examples have demonstrated how easy chemical contamination can occur within a food business and how to prevent a similar food safety hazard of chemical contamination issue occurring within your food business. Both situation really highlight the importance of chemical training.

Food chemical training

Any food handler that uses chemicals within the food business should be trained in chemical contamination, the correct use, application and storage of chemicals. Take a moment to look at how chemical substances are used within your food business and also if the HACCP team has correctly assessed to likelihood of chemical contamination during the risk assessment process or HACCP hazard analysis.

 

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