With the grilling season getting into full swing, firing up the barbecue is a staple on almost everyone’s summer to do lists.  It is a time to gather with family and friends for a tasty meal while enjoying the outdoors.  But Canadian summer days of course mean warmer temperatures and that means cooking outdoors has to be done with care. 

Fortunately, there are easy tips you can undertake that minimize foodborne illness with some helpful tips.

• Shop for meat and poultry last, and separate them from other food to avoid cross contamination.
• Once at home refrigerate meat and poultry immediately. Keep raw meats on the bottom shelf of the fridge to avoid any packages from leaking juices onto foods below.
• Thaw meat and poultry completely before grilling so as to cook evenly.
• Marinate food in the refrigerator, instead of on counter tops.
  • A good practice is to discard marinades after use but if a marinade is to be reused, make sure to boil it to destroy any harmful bacteria.
• Keep food cold when carrying it to another location or when bringing your shopping home.  Insulated coolers with ice packs are an ideal option.
• Make sure food not being used is away from direct sunlight; only take out food that will be immediately placed on the grill.
• Cleanliness is key; ensure there are utensils and platters.
  • Never use the same platter for raw and cooked foods.
• Different meats cook to different temperatures. These small temperature differences make a big difference when it comes to food safety. And so does a food thermometer you can use to check temperatures.

Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures

•  
  • Hamburgers, beef: 71.1 C / 160 F
  • Beef, lamb, and veal (steaks, roasts, and chops):
    • Medium rare 62.7 C / 145 F
    • Medium 71.1 C / 160 F
  • All cuts of pork 71.1 C / 160 F
  • All poultry 73.8 C /165 F for pieces (85°C / 185°F for whole birds)

Here in Canada, summer barbecues are an enjoyable and relaxing change of pace and it’s great to get back outdoors after the winter, but not bbq-ing year round means we may not be mindful of the food safety risks or precautions we have to take.  You can find more information on Health Canada’s site and their tips for barbecuing page.

Randy Huffman, Chief Food Safety Officer and John Placko, Director of Culinary Excellence

This week I participated in my very first “bloginar” – a meeting with about 15 bloggers in the Vancouver area. These were parents who blog regularly about a range of topics of interest to moms and dads and are read by parents across North America and beyond.  Healthy eating and food safety are high on the list of topics of importance to them.  We spent the evening talking about their concerns about the safety of the food system and what Maple Leaf is doing to advance food safety.  

Top concerns and questions raised by these bloggers focused on the recall of 2008 and the discovery of Listeria in Maple Leaf products. They wanted to know about the training programs that are in place now to make sure we’re following best practices. They asked what will help ensure we remain motivated to continue to raise the bar on our standards. One very good question on that topic was whether or not employees feel comfortable taking action if they have a food safety concern in our plants.

These are important questions for Maple Leaf. We went to great lengths to determine what happened in 2008 that caused the death of 23 Canadians. In responding to their questions I had a chance to explain the new practices we put in place to ensure better sanitization based on what we learned from detailed investigations. I talked about how we continue to submit our plants to regular and random audits and are working towards certification under the internationally recognized standards (specifically what’s known as GFSI or Global Food Safety Initiative standards).  And we actively encourage employees to let us know if they have a food safety concern or ideas to improve how we do things…it’s a critical part of building a culture of food safety.   

We also talked a bit about what consumers should know and can do to protect their families, and the types of home cleaning products such as bleach or even vinegar that can act as antimicrobials.

We’re really grateful that people came out and shared candid feedback last night. It was informative and good conversation and I think participants enjoyed it; I know I did. We have to stay in touch with what consumers expect of us bacause it’s going to help us do a better job.

After about 30 years in this industry, I joined Maple Leaf in late 2009 as SVP Food Safety and Quality Assurance, in part because I was impressed with the company’s commitment to lead in this area. I want to thank those Vancouver bloggers I met for coming out to the event. I’m looking forward to more sessions like this as well as continuing the discussion on-line. Keep visiting this blog as we’ll be sharing more updates. We want your comments!

Over the past few weeks government agencies in the U.S. and Canada have been investigating possible Salmonella contamination of Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), an ingredient used as a flavour enhancer  used in a wide array of commercially-prepared foods, such as chips, soups, dips, salad dressings, sauces, frozen dinners and snack foods.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are conducting investigations and following the situation closely.  There have been no reports of any confirmed illnesses in Canada or the U.S. linked to the food products containing HVP and the risk is considered to be very low.

The complete list of recalled products is available on the CFIA’s food safety portal at www.foodsafety.gc.ca or the FDA’s website at www.foodsafety.gov. If you have any of the recalled products in your home, you should not eat them.  You should check the sites regularly since it is expected that more products may be recalled as a result of the ongoing investigations.

The products that are being recalled are ready-to-eat products that contain the affected HVP ingredient and have not been subject to a  heat treatment or other process that would effectively eliminate the Salmonella.

No Maple Leaf products have been recalled, however we are closely monitoring the situation.  We are taking all measures necessary to continue to ensure the safety of our products.   

It is important to note that both the CFIA and FDA have advised that certain products  that contain the affected HVP do not represent a food safety risk and are not subject to the recall.  This includes:

• ready-to-eat foods where HVP may be added as an ingredient and which have been made using processes that would effectively eliminate Salmonella, such asnormal cooking practices
• ready-to-cook products that consumers cook or reheat at home after they buy them areunlikely to pose a risk providing the product is prepared at temperatures stated in the validated cooking instructions provided on the packaging. Thesecooking instructions shouldprovideinstructions thatensures the product reaches temperaturesthat effectively eliminate Salmonella.

Following safe food handling practices and maintaining proper refrigeration temperatures are critical to minimizing the risk associated with the presence of Salmonella in raw meats.  Thoroughly cooking product to the recommended internal temperature, for example 165ºF/74ºC in poultry products, effectively eliminates Salmonella.