Pre harvest food risks - what are they?

Question 1

What does the term pre-harvest refer to?

Answer 1

Prior to the collection of animal products e.g. feed, housing, hygiene and treatments

Question 2

What things are at risk?

Answer 2

Food safety
Animal health
Animal welfare

Question 3

What are the objectives of the following at farm level?

a) Risk assessment
b) Risk management

Answer 3

a) Identify hazards, prioritise them and evaluate management strategies
b) To reduce or prevent the risk related to a hazard

Question 4

What is the goal of pre-harvest food safety?

Answer 4

To minimise the risk of foodborne illness

Question 5

What is a risk pathway?

Answer 5

The sequence of events that can lead to an outcome - can be used in risk management

Question 6

What are the types of hazards in animal-derived food?

Answer 6

Biological
Chemical
Physical

Question 7

What activities/processes on the farm could go wrong?

Answer 7

Feeding practices & feed production
Veterinary Treatments
Environmental hazards
general husbandry/hygiene

Question 8

What sources of hazards could there be?

Answer 8

Animals
Personel
Wildlife
Insects
Environment
Feed

Question 9

What are common pre-harvest hazards?

Answer 9

Production disease (e.g. mastitis)
Husbandry systems: feed, air quality, space, social groups
Medicine residues
TB
Brucella
Parasites
Salmonella
Campylobacter
Ysinia
Staphylococci
Listeria

Question 10

What things could contaminate food and water?

Answer 10

Pesticides
Fungicides
Environmental Contaminants
Pathogens

Question 11

How do varying husbandry practices affect farm hazards?

Answer 11

May increase/decrease likelihood of INTRODUCING a hazard or it may increase/decrease the likelihood of SPREADING (within farm) a hazard

Question 12

How can improving animal welfare affect pre-harvest food safety?

Answer 12

Decreased immunnosuppresion
Reduce infectious disease incidence
Reduce shedding
Therefore reduce antibiotic usage and resistance

Question 13

What are the main hazards in the dairy industry?

Answer 13

Milk - TB, salmonella, brucella

Cheese - Listeria

Question 14

What are the main hazards to food safety in the poultry industry?

Answer 14

Chicken - campylobacter, salmonella

Eggs - Salmonella

Question 15

Why is feed surveiled for salmonella and in which species is this compulsory?

Answer 15

Feed can be contaminated with salmonella

Statutory in poultry industry but many pig farms are also survayed carefully.

Question 16

What constitutes a salmonella ‘incident’ and why is this term used?

Answer 16

Incident = the first isolation and all those following it (of the same serovar) in a particular animal/premises within 30 days

This term is needed as multiple isolates could be taken from multiple samples on the same farm.

Question 17

What are routes of human infection for E. coli?

Answer 17

Consumption of contaminated food/water
Direct contact with animals or their faeces
Person-person spread

Question 18

What is the main reservoir of E. coli in the UK and what makes its identification difficult?

Answer 18

Cattle.

Hard to spot as animals often don’t show clinical signs

Question 19

Why might the risk of harvesting eggs and milk be increased compared to other animal products?

Answer 19

Harvesting takes place on the farm

Question 20

What is the checklist for assessing food safety on farm?

Answer 20

Feed
Water
animal purchasing
biosecurity
Hygiene in husbandry
Animal health
use of medicines
hygienic harvest conditions
hygienic storage conditions