FDA Targets Manufacturers of Finished Products With Guidance on Control of Salmonella in Foods That Contain Peanut-Derived Ingredients; Similar Bulletin Targets Retail Food Sector

By Ricardo Carvajal –      

In response to the recent outbreak of Salmonella in peanut-derived products, FDA has issued a Guidance for Industry targeted to manufacturers who use peanut-derived ingredients in their products. (The guidance does not target producers of those ingredients.)  The guidance addresses different factors that can impact the effectiveness of Salmonella control measures, and recommends steps to ensure that the presence of Salmonella is adequately reduced in finished products.  FDA observes that “[d]etermining the processing conditions appropriate to adequately reduce Salmonella spp. in a particular food product involves considerable expertise in both food microbiology and the physics of heat transfer.”  In addition, the guidance warns that “[a] history of negative microbiological tests for Salmonella spp. in the finished product, while useful in a verification program for a process, is not sufficient, by itself, to determine the adequacy of a process in reducing the presence of Salmonella.”  The guidance also describes as potentially useful a document on the control of Salmonella recently published by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, although FDA disclaims any responsibility for the content of that document.

FDA also discusses different factors that can impact the effectiveness of Salmonella control measures in a bulletin issued to retail food service establishments and food stores.  The bulletin explicitly advises that “any peanut-derived products recalled by a manufacturer should not be used and should be returned or discarded.”