IDM | Technology/IT
Food Hygiene
Raw milk without bacteria from the stalls
How is hygiene in the foodstuff industry
applied in practice and what do
the regulations say about it? Where
are the weak points, e.g. when obtaining
and treating raw milk? What can make a
new patent even better?
The status quo
At the turn of the 2015/2016 year, the
WHO published its first figures on the risk
of food poisoning. In the "Global Estimates
of Foodborne Diseases" report, the World
Health Organisation referred to the fact
that, on average, one in ten people falls ill
from germs that are transmitted through
food. For ten years, experts have been
20 · 8 2017 | international-dairy.com
looking into the hygiene of industrial food
production to be more than sure of the following
estimates: 600 million people – about
10 percent of the population – are infected
by contaminated foods each year.
• For 420,000 people, the illness is fatal. This
includes a disproportionate number of
children aged five and under (30 percent).
• In Europe, the WHO report states that
there are 23 million illnesses per year, with
5,000 fatalities.
• People suffer most from infected food in
Africa and Asia.
• Raw meat, dairy products and eggs are
most frequently contaminated.
Three sources of germs
The WHO states very conservative figures,
derived from determined or reported illnesses.
This does not include an estimate
of unknown cases. Particularly in the poorest
and low-income regions, there is a lack
of medical provision, meaning the statistics
there are unable to take contamination into
consideration.
31 triggers are responsible for infections,
according to the survey: Bacteria, viruses,
parasites, germs, spores, toxins and chemicals.
In addition to this, there are particles
from feed, faeces (E.coli) and urine, pet
litter and insect parts. The entirety of all
these typical contaminations, which are encountered
in the stall air, are described by
the term "bioaerosol".
In principle, the aerosols come from three
sources of pathogens: Animal (cow, sheep,
goat), stall and processing chain. The hygiene
problem of processing, i.e. the production
facilities in the food processing industry
as the third source, is hidden in the
often poor filter technology. When the level
drops in the receiving container, the consequent
vacuum draws contaminated air from
the surrounding space through leaks in the
connections and screw fittings of the storage
container and holding vessel at the filter
connection to the product. This undoes
the success of the upstream sterilisation of
both the semi-finished product and the air.
Problem with stall air
The weakness in the processing is in the
farmer’s milking parlour, with two contamination
sources. The milking process simulates
the suckling of a young animal at its mother’s
udder. The vacuum pump and pulsator replace
the calf, but with the difference that
technology switches on the vacuum shortly
(photo: Fischer Planning) before encircling the teat to ensure a good