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Between 2000 and 2004, a 12-state consortium in the southeastern United States used a “train-the-trainer” effort to introduce good agricultural practices (GAPs) to the region's fresh produce growers, packers, and consumers. Supported by the National Food Safety Initiative, the consortium created and implemented training by using a program and supporting materials specifically applicable to conditions and commodities in southern states. Because several factors distinguish the southeastern U.S. fresh produce industry from that of other regions in the U.S., a region-specific training program addressing distinguishing factors was needed. Distinguishing factors include: 1) southeastern U.S. producers are typically grower-packers, with some notable exceptions in Florida and Texas; 2) most such producer entities are seasonal, have their own packinghouse operation, are small-scale in that they pick what they grow and pack and often use migrant and seasonal labor; 3) modern worker training, sanitary practice, and facilities and supervisory expertise are either somewhat limited or completely lacking; and 4) the use of seasonal and migrant labor dictates the use of Spanish language interpreters and training. To meet fresh produce food safety training needs for the region, project leaders created a 329-page training program and associated PowerPoint presentation-containing compact disc, nine four-page crop-specific brochures relating GAPs to crop “groups,” a Spanish language handwashing video and a new model recall program for the fresh produce industry. The leveraging effect of this train-the-trainer effort ultimately reached nearly 20,000 people in this multi-disciplinary, multi-state, integrated project, thus expanding and reinforcing regional cooperative extension efforts.

This paper summarizes the management framework, organizing plan, and results of a multi-state, multi-institutional partnership delivering a targeted “train-the-trainer” program addressing food chain security in the southeastern U.S. The partnership provided good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) –based training to fresh fruit and vegetable (produce) growers and packers throughout the region. Twelve southern states cooperated in this project: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. This 2000–04 work was funded by National Food Safety Initiative grants. Although proposed long before events of 11 Sept. 2001, the project and its results are increasingly relevant since that time. This is because consumer expectations regarding the nation's food supply now include a new security consciousness addressed in this project.

The effects of growing water temperature and salinity on the concentration of 29 elements in oysters harvested from waters of Virginia, Maryland, and Mississippi were evaluated. Significant differences in concentration were observed for 16 elements for one or both environmental factors.

This project directly addresses national food safety “priority issues”. Project design incorporates food safety and food chain security as focal points of educational efforts, then initiates practical, producer-level research, teaching, and extension whereby food handling and safety issues are addressed in a systems context. The overall Project goals are (1) to deliver information about Fresh Produce Food Safety (“FPFS”) programs and principles defined in the FDA Guide to fresh fruit and vegetable handlers in the Southeastern United States, (2) to provide hands-on individual state assistance with FPFS program implementation, and (3) to determine the influence of packing line procedures on the survival of foodborne pathogens. Part of the education envisioned under the new grant is introducing the concepts of recall and traceback. These concepts, proposed for incorporation into a new Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) act being discussed for adoption, possibly in 2006, essentially allows for the traceback of food to its point of origin. Osborne and others published a new protocol last month as “Model Recall Program for the Fresh Produce Industry” and want to help growers stay ahead of the curve on these issues. As a consequence of this project, the region's commercial fresh fruit and vegetable handlers will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to establish effective GAPs programs. Developing new GAPs programs to fit the specific needs of the packing and chain store operations in the Southeastern United States can significantly reduce the possibility of illness originating from Southeastern fresh fruit and vegetables. Delivering such programs will serve as a valuable training tool for fresh produce industries nationwide.

Moderate temperature thermal processing is used to extend the refrigerated shelf life of certain prepackaged seafoods. The relatively mild heating conditions results in color, texture, and flavor characteristics that are similar to those of “fresh” products, but with greatly extended shelf life. Although almost any seafood can be moderately heat processed, only smoked fish, crawfish tail meat, and crabmeat have received significant attention. The U.S. experience in moderate temperature thermal processing of seafoods is based largely on processing of meat from the blue crab (Calinectes sapidus). As a consequence, this chapter focuses primarily on principles associated with pasteurization of crabmeat, especially as they impact the product’s microbiology; however, these principles also apply to other minimal processing techniques.

Finfish are generally regarded as being much more perishable than other high-protein muscle foods. This high degree of perishability is due primarily to the large concentration of nonprotein nitrogenous compounds present in fish muscle. These compounds, which include free amino acids and volatile nitrogen bases such as ammonia, trimethylamine, creatine, taurine, the betaines, uric acid, anserine, carnosine, and histamine are utilized actively by bacteria during spoilage (Jay 1986). Another factor that contributes to the perishability of finfish is the temperature of the water from which they are harvested. The bacterial flora of cold-water fish species are not inhibited as effectively by refrigeration as are the normal flora of fish harvested from warm tropical waters. When handled properly, tropical fish species are generally less prone to rapid spoilage and exhibit a longer refrigerated shelf life than cold-water species (Disney 1976; Poulter et al. 1981; Sumner et al. 1984). This broad generalization, however, may have to be reconsidered. A review by Lima dos Santos (1981) on the storage of tropical fish on ice contends that there are too many variables for direct comparisons, and that there are instances of cold-water fish such as halibut and grenadiers having a shelf life, on ice, for up to 3 weeks.

The Southeastern Fresh Produce Food Safety Training Program has been training extension agents across the southeastern U.S. since 2000. This program has utilized a variety of methods including group case study to enhance learning and promote team work. Multistate trainings have fostered collaboration between states and institutions. One goal of the program was to produce a method for agents to provide training that was repeatable and easy to implement. As a result, two videos were produced for use in training field and packinghouse workers. These videos were an English language good agricultural practices (GAPs) video entitled Bridging the GAPs: From the Farm to the Table and a Spanish language hand-washing video entitled ¡Lave sus Manos: Por Los Niños! This program has been very effective, but has faced challenges due to language barriers. Many field and packinghouse crews were mixed in terms of language with some crew members speaking only English while others spoke only Spanish. As a result, Spanish speakers were unable to access the information in the good agricultural practices video while English speakers were unable to access information in the hand-washing video. The solution was to produce a bilingual training aid that included both sets of information and has been compiled into a DVD containing the footage of both of the original videos in both languages. For the Spanish version of the GAPs video and the English of the hand-washing video, the audio of the video's original language was left at a low sound level and the audio of the alternate language was added. These DVDs are currently being distributed to extension programs in all of the cooperating states with the aim of reaching growers who want to start a food safety plan.

Food safety, including fresh produce food safety programming and GAPs (Good Agricultural Practices) third-party audit considerations are impacting the ability of producers marketing their crops. These relatively new federal programs are voluntary, but major buyers and chain stores are beginning to require that growers and sellers demonstrate participation in the programs. Recently, there were no training programs or materials readily available to meet educational needs of Cooperative Extension clients. Local producers began to request information on participation, compliance, and the end results. In Rowan County, N.C., two different programs addressed information and training material limitations for local producers. In one training session, local farmer's market participants were introduced to risk management concepts that helped them meet the GAPs training requirements. In another program, local school personnel were introduced to new food safety concepts in a local training for Hispanic workers. Since translation capability is limited, we have partnered with Spanish speakers from a local bank and from a migrant worker education group. This networking was valuable to our cooperators, since they reached new clients, and to us in getting workers trained in food safety.

This paper summarizes the management framework of a multi-state, multi-institutional partnership delivering a targeted “train-the-trainer” program. Procedures associated with assuring on-schedule deliverables and budget compliance will be reviewed. The program provided Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)-based training to southeastern U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable (produce) growers and packers. Twelve southern U.S. states cooperated in this project: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The 2000–04 work was funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture–Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (USDA–CSREES) National Food Safety Initiative grants. This project developed materials, pilot-tested them, refined them for use by a regional group of specialized agents, assisted the agents in delivering the new programming, and evaluated the results.

This paper summarizes the results of a multi-state, multi-institutional partnership delivering a targeted train-the-trainer program. The program provided good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) based training to southeastern U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable (produce) growers and packers. Twelve southern U.S. states cooperated in this project between 2001 and 2004. In the work 150 trainers introduced nearly 20,000 persons to GAPs principles, including over 2,000 Spanish-speaking workers and a similar number of limited resource/specialty crop/grower/packer/buyer audience members. Actual numbers of persons reached was nearly 20,000, a number arrived at by counting signed-in registrations for events. Cost per person for outreach was about $6.00 per person, including travel expenses. In cooperation with the federal Risk Management Agency, a training component about risk in fresh produce operations was developed. This unit was delivered to historically underserved audiences, small farms and roadside markets, and other non-traditional audiences. This training continues today.

This paper summarizes the management framework of a multi-state, multi-institutional partnership delivering a targeted train-the-trainer program. The program provided Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)-based training to southeastern U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable (produce) growers and packers. Twelve southern U.S. states cooperated in this project: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The 2000–04 work was funded by United States Department of Agriculture – Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (USDA–CSREES) National Food Safety Initiative grants. This project developed materials, pilot tested them, refined them for use by a regional group of specialized agents, assisted the agents in delivering the new programming and evaluated the results.

One key to protecting the nation's food supply is training packinghouse and field workers in food safety principles. Southern producer/packers are typically grower/packers. Such producers usually are seasonal, have their own packinghouse operation and are small scale. They use migrant and seasonal labor. Also worker training, sanitary practice and facilities are either somewhat limited or completely lacking in such operations. Further, the use of seasonal and migrant labor dictates the use of Spanish language interpreters for training. These trainers are in marked shortage. To help meet this need for trainers and training materials we developed a bi-lingual (Spanish/English) “flip chart” GAPs training aid. It contains 48 charts explaining food safety principles to be considered in the field and in the packing operation. These educational materials can be used by small farmers, growers and packers for training sessions. Such material is particularly useful in preparing for third-party audits.

The microbial quality of fresh fish was determined by using a bacterial ATP bioluminescent assay. Assay procedures included differential filtration followed by enzymatic degradation of somatic ATP. This technique limited interference from non-bacterial ATP sources and thus bacterial ATP was quantitated by using the luciferin-luciferase reaction in an automated luminometer. Good correlation (r = .96) was obtained from four species of finfish when microbial counts, determined from ATP analyses, were compared to counts determined by using conventional plate count procedures.

The objectives were (1) to determine and compare the content of 16 essential elements in fresh, boiled, steamed, and pasteurized crabmeat, and (2) to determine the effect of boiling, steaming, and pasteurizing on the retention of those elements. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used. The element content of each crabmeat product was compared statistically. Percentages of RDA's for the elements determined show that raw, boiled, steamed, and pasteurized crabmeat are excellent sources of Cu, P, Na, and Zn, and good sources of Ca, Fe, Mg, and K. Retention of elements in the processed samples ranged from 69–201%.

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect of three processing methods currently used in the commercial processing of oysters on the concentration of 15 essential elements in oysters. The processing methods evaluated were: traditional hand shucking, steam tunnel, and retorting. Significant differences were observed in the retention of some of the essential elements as the result of processing.

Crabmeat is processed commercially at 85°C and held at refrigeration temperatures in order to extend shelf life. It was the purpose of this investigation to examine both the anaerobic and aerobic microflora in crabmeat prior to pasteurization and after pasteurization and storage. Anaerobic bacteria from crabmeat were isolated, quantitated and identified using the VPIS however, after pasteurization, the isolates neither produced H2 S nor grew at 37°C. Heat resistance of the isolates was determined both in pH 7.20 phosphate. buffer and crabmeat homogenates (pH 7.26). Decimal reduction times in phosphate buffer at 55°C were about 2.5 mm for most isolates. No evidence was obtained that the isolates would survive pasteurization.

Tissues of Eastern ( Crassostrea virginica ) and Korean ( Crassostrea gigas ) oysters were analyzed for proximate composition; elemental, amino acid, and pesticide contents; and selected enzyme activities. Eastern oysters contained more nitrogen but a lower ash and lipid content. In general, the amino acid and elemental contents were higher in the Korean species. Neither the Eastern nor Korean species contained pesticides or PCBs in an amount greater than 0.1 ppm. Peroxidase activity was greater in Korean oysters while lipase activity was higher in the Eastern species. Lipoxygenase was not detected in either species.

Ammonia and other volatile nitrogen compounds are major components of the off-flavors and odors associated with spoiled shrimp. Increases in the level of total volatile nitrogen (TVN) have been used as an objective index of shrimp quality. In order to find a simple method for determining shrimp quality the use of an ammonia specific-ion electrode was investigated. Ammonia produced from both iced and noniced refrigerated shrimp together with direct microscopic bacterial counts, TVN and sensory evaluation were measured as a function of storage time. The results indicated a close correlation between ammonia, as measured by the specific-ion electrode, and the more traditional spoilage parameters. Frozen shrimp with various pre-frozen spoilage characteristics were also evaluated using the ammonia specific electrode. Although a correlation was observed between the pre-frozen spoilage characteristics and ammonia measured in the frozen shrimp, the data fluctuations using the ammonia specific electrode appeared too dramatic to infer spoilage characteristics prior to freezing. The use of the ammonia specific-ion electrode is a rapid and simple method for determining shrimp quality, especially in iced raw shrimp, and possibly of significant value in the shrimp industry's quality control efforts.

The issue of the sodium content of foods and the labeling of food products as to their sodium content has become the target for legislative debate. Oysters, processed by three methods currently employed within the oyster processing industry, were analyzed for sodium content using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Significant differences in the sodium levels were observed among the processes. Indications were that the variations observed were in part due to the viability of the mollusk during processing. The data indicate that it would be a significant problem for the oyster industry to declare in the label sodium content within a reasonable limit of certainty.

Equivalent processes were determined for the pasteurization of crabmeat, from the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), in cans and flexible pouches containing 113.5g, 227.0g, and 454.0g of product. F185 values were calculated for z values of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22. Based on the heating characteristics of the traditional container used for pasteurized crabmeat (401 × 301), equivalent processes for nontraditional containers were determined.

Blue crabs were harvested from an area known to have a high level of mercury in the sediment. The edible body meat was extracted and analyzed for both total and methylmercury concentrations. A highly significant correlation was observed (0.957) with respect to the amount of total mercury present as methylmercury. Analysis indicated that approximately 35% of the total mercury was present as methylmercury.