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Sniffing out contaminants
Author(s) -
Spiros Paramithiotis,
Natasha D. Spadafora,
Carsten Theodor Muller,
Eleftherios H. Drosinos,
Hilary J. Rogers
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
food science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.108
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2689-1816
pISSN - 1475-3324
DOI - 10.1002/fsat.3204_13.x
Subject(s) - sniffing , contamination , environmental science , environmental chemistry , psychology , chemistry , biology , ecology , neuroscience
A key component of the EU and WHO strategy to promo te a healthy diet includes sufficient intake of fresh fruit and vegetables 1 with a daily recommended dose of 400 g. Recently, the consumption of ready to eat salads and fruit salads has been ri sing n Europe, the USA and elsewhere. These products help to provide readily accessible sources of fruit and vegetables in the home and on the move. However, both traditional fresh fruit and veg etables and minimally processed products can harbour human pathogens. Minimally processed foods are particularly vulnerable compared to fully processed foods, as they do not typically inc lude a kill step to eliminate the presence of micro organisms, as this would also affect their nutritio nal value. Furthermore, due to the processing steps that include trimming, peeling and cutting an d then a wide distribution of the product, opportunities for propagating any contaminants ente ring the supply chain are increased 2. A key priority for the industry therefore is early detect ion of contaminants in the supply chain and a thorough investigation of any contamination found t o determine the source. Processes can then be improved to reduce occurrence of contamination to a minimum.