Improving the safety, quality and shelf-life of Tasmanian produce

Transcription

1 Improving the safety, quality and shelf-life of Tasmanian produce Prof. Roger Stanley Centre for Food Safety and Innovation Environmental Health Conference 2018

2 Drivers for Tasmania Produce enough food for 3-4 m people need to export off island Fresh high value chilled results in by-product of lower value grades need to process Processing to consumer meals captures the most value need appropriate technologies

3 Focus Areas to Research Developing Tasmania as a delicatessen Guaranteeing safety and provenance Exceeding consumer expectations Delivering health and affordability Increasing local value capture

4 Developing Tasmania as a delicatessen Targeting small segment of high end consumers Lower volume, high value add Paddock to plate Integration with tourism

5 Guaranteeing safety and provenance Focus on brand value Safety is integral to provenance Claims must be validated

6 Exceeding consumer expectations Superior produce needed Consumer focused product development Whole of chain approach

7 Delivering health and affordability Health focused breeding, growing, processing Equality of access Consumer education for healthy choices Eat Well Tasmania

8 Increasing local value capture Approaches: Upgrading lower value produce Locally processing to consumer usable forms Building local branding for value addition Agri-food tourism Direct to consumer value chains by-passing supermarkets Giner, C. (2009), New Avenues of Value Creation in the Agro-Food Sector, OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Working Papers, No. 13, OECD

9 Research Talk Outline Fresh food shelf life & quality Sanitation science Modified atmosphere packaging Processed food shelf life and quality Microwave assisted processing (MATS) Food safety assurance Combase: microbial growth prediction 9

10 Sanitation science Improved sanitisation for reducing microbial load Salmon Red meat Chicken Leafy Green Vegetables Fresh-cut fruit 10

11 Salmon shelf life Long transport distances needs extra shelf life 2-5 days from Tasmania Up to 4,250 km by road 2-3 days to Asia via Melbourne 12 O South 42 O South 11

12 Electrolysed oxidising (E.O) water Free Chlorine ph Hypochlorous acid Salt, water, electricity Hypochlorous action to oxidise the microbial cell membrane Produced electrolytically

13 Salmon shelf life E.O. water washing E.O. ice storage Modified atmosphere packaging Impacts of combined treatments Microbial ecology Fish freshness odor Production of TMA Production of sulphides

14 Pre-harvest interventions to suppress pathogens on leafy green vegetables Field vegetables are vulnerable Manure, water, soil borne pathogen contamination Pathogens cant be eliminated by post harvest washing Reduced 2-3 Log Salad vegetables are eaten raw No heat treatment

15 Field sanitation 1. Innoculate with pathogen surrogate 2. Compare treatments I. Type II. Concentration III. Frequency IV. Sunshine V. Rain 3. Measure impact on leaf and soil microorganisms 4. Optimize for pathogen control

16 Centre for Food Innovation (CFI) Collaboration: University of Tasmania Defence: DST (Scottsdale) CSIRO

17 Defence needs for new food technology Canning invented for Napoleon Long shelf life hermetically sealed rations WWI Ration packs for complete nutrition WWII Freeze dried light weight rations 1960 s - Flameless ration heaters Canning in plastic MRE s Post Desert Storm IRAQ: Stable foods that taste better than canned

18 Retort food processing Current technology over-processes for safety Decreases taste, nutrition and quality Requires large industry/economy of scale

19 MATS Microwave Assisted Thermal Sterilisation New technology Sterilize/cook inside plastic packaging Shelf stable No refrigeration Centre for Food Innovation, University of Tasmania 19

20 Load Unload 80 o C -130 o C 3 bar pressure 100 kw microwave 922 MHz MATS Continuous retort microwave food pilot plant

21 Advantages of MATS products Improved retention of quality Taste, nutrition, texture Improved shipping options Avoid cool-cold chain Flexible format Trays or pouches 200g-2000g Lower costs/smaller regional processors Continuous process, lower energy, plastic packaging 21

22 MATS application areas Food service Speciality catering Local and national distribution Insitutions Hospitals Age care Schools Defecne Field rations On-board Field catering Hospitality Airlines Events Hotels Resorts Cafe FMCG production Regional food production Lower cost supermarket meals Export meals Higher added value premium hospitality Smaller production runs Health Portion control Diet Free from Clean label Conveniance Grab and go Heat and eat Speciaility Provenance Ethnic Luxury e-meals 22

23 Drivers for MATS Development Military Forward base/on-board supply of improved prepared foods Consumers Increasing trends to more prepared convenience foods Increasing demands for more quality/luxury Food sellers Supermarket options that compete with fast food sales Centralised food preparation is cheaper E-meals direct to consumers 23

24 E-Foods direct to consumer Amazon Pursues MREs, Prepares for Impending Apocalypse eater.com 11/08/17 Military tech could be Amazon s secret to cheap, nonrefrigerated food Let's hope they taste better than traditional MREs ARStechnica 12/08/17 Amazon looks to new food technology for home delivery Reuters 12/08/17

25 25

26 ComBase: A Web Resource for Quantitative and Predictive Food Microbiology

27 ComBase An on-line, searchable, international, database of microbial responses in food environments

28 ComBase: What is it? The world's largest database of bacterial responses (growth, death) in food (65,000+ records) Freely-accessible Jointly maintained by University of Tasmania (UTAS) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Well regarded by the global food industry and academic community: 40,000+ users Collaborative still collecting data

29 Food Safety Objective: Specify the maximum permissible level and/or frequency of a microbiological hazard in a food at the moment of consumption (commensurate with the ALOP*) *Acceptable Level of Protection

30 ComBase: Benefits & Applications Science-based microbiological criteria Food safety management plans e.g. HACCP Identifying CCPs and critical limits Food product and food process design Reducing microbiological testing Reducing data-collection & costs

31 CB Premium Collates published, peer-reviewed predictive food microbiology models Offers a cost-effective means to: Develop and validate preventative controls in food safety plans and systems, Ensure their products are of high quality, and Develop appropriate food safety protocols for new products. Enables regulators to evaluate and verify those plans Some content free, some by subscription only

32 ComBase: Expert Advice International Scientific Group 25 from government, industry, academia, consultants

33 ComBase: Interface and Functions

34 ComBase: Browser

35 ComBase: Predictor

36 ComBase: You-Tube Channel

37 TIA Centre for Food Safety and Innovation Food research, innovation and training Leveraging national and international science resources Supporting development of Tasmanian and national food companies Confidence in the food supply Value addition to produce Value capture for regional processors