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Improving seed sprout food safety: a farm to retail assessment

Andreas Kiermeier, Damian May, Geoff Holds, John Sumner
June 2009 to July 2012

Project Objectives and Technical Outputs

• Improve the food safety of alfalfa seed sprouts available for sale to consumers.
• Facilitate the development of the seed sprout industry.

Outcomes

• Profile of the seed production, cleaning and seed sprout production industries.
• Information for industry-led Sector based Code of Practice.
• Seed sprout business and industry development risk management through effective and appropriate seed decontamination treatments.

Stored grains sampling strategies

Andreas Kiermeier
July 2007 to June 2011

Project Objectives and Technical Outputs

• Review random and strategic surveillance and sampling strategies currently used within the stored grains industry, and determine their capacity to detect specific domestic grain pests.
• Identify and prioritise at-risk elements of the supply chain in which improved sampling strategies will maximise efficiency of EPP detection within existing resource constraints.
• Review current leading edge surveillance techniques in closely related fields, including probabilistic and non-probabilistic methodologies.
• Identify a range of information resources that can be merged with existing or newly developed sampling methods to increase the power of analyses and provide evidence of freedom from specific EPPs.
• Appropriately modify existing sampling methodologies and develop new statistical sampling methodologies as needed that can be appropriately tailored to individual situations.

Outcomes

• Maximise the probability of detection of targets and demonstrating freedom from EPPs of concern.
• Improve industry surveillance practices.
• Build statistical capacity and an improvement in sampling methodologies within the biosecurity field.
• Assist in maintaining market access, maintain grain quality and limit the spread of resistance to phosphine or other treatments by improving the early detection of pests (both foreign and endemic) in stored grains.
• Provide scientifically defensible and statistically robust methods for the demonstration of area freedom and the defence of Australian products against claims of infestation with specific foreign pests.

Toxicological information on a number of chemical substances associated with grain handling in South Australia

Ian Delaere
August to September 2007

Project Objectives and Technical Outputs

• Investigate fertilizers, mono and di-ammonium phosphate, urea, the fertilizer adjunct zinc and the grain contaminant aflatoxins in the context of their use in food and related permissions in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Outcomes

• Inform business of some toxicological hazards associated with the grain handling process.

Grains microbial baseline survey

Andrew Pointon, Geoff Holds, Michelle Lorimer
September 2006 to March 2007

Project Objectives and Technical Outputs

• Quantify microbial hazard contamination in cereal grain at the point of export.
• Compare grain with least (direct delivered) and greatest (bunker) potential for faecal contamination from vermin (birds, rodents and insects).

Outcomes

• Information to underpin domestic and international sales of cereal grain.
• Quantification of the efficacy of current control measures.
• Matrix of predicted sample numbers to detect lower and higher prevalence to those found.
• Define commercial risk from presence of food safety hazards and the need for any further interventions or data.

Risk profile of Corynetoxin contamination of grain

Ian Delaere
September to December 2005

Project Objectives and Technical Outputs

• Examine potential consumer exposure from Corynetoxin contamination of exported grains

Outcomes

• Inform industry risk management policy 

Risk-based assessment of microbial hazards during grain storage and handling at an export terminal

Ben Daughtry, Andreas Keirmeier, Andrew Pointon, Mark Hewitson, Geoff Masters
September 2005 to April 2006

• Identify and quantify pathways of microbial hazard contamination into export grain
• Predict survivial of microbial hazards in stored grains
• Estimate the proportional contribution of contamination of food borne hazards arising at the export receival and storage terminal
• Provide technical data to support the development of a HACCP-based food safety qualtiy assurance program for a grain export terminal (port).

Outcomes

• Quantification of export terminal-derived microbial hazard contamination
• Prediction of contamination survival (from all sources) in stored grain
• Benchmarking (indicator sampling) of hygiene of exported grain
• Priority sampling points to verify hygiene programs at other terminals
• Provision of objective data generated by a transparent process to inform hygiene policy by stakeholders for export terminals
• Development of a justifiable HACCP-based food safety system by Australian Barley Board (ABB )Grains Ltd
• Codex compliant food safety plan to meet importing country requirements