There has been a lot of talk about food safety and as you read in Charles Graham's article in February, "New food safety regulations on the horizon", several of the new regulations were discussed.Food safety is a major concern for all industries and it may take only one outbreak to greatly affect the future of these industries. For the past few years, I have heard rumors that shellers are considering not buying pecans where livestock have been grazed under the trees as a means to reduce the risk of human pathogen contamination. Theseshellers are worried mainly about Salmonella and/or Escherichia coli (E. coli) contamination in pecans from manure of livestock. There are both harmless and harmful strains of E. coli. Harmless strains are typically part of the normal gut flora benefiting their host (humans or livestock), by producing biochemicals needed for normal growth and metabolism or preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria. However, E. coli 0157:H7 is harmful and of great concern.
展开▼
