EFSA identifies ways to reduce Listeria risk in frozen vegetables

A multi-country outbreak that affected 53 people and caused ten deaths between 2015 and 2018 in Austria, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom trigger an investigation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Greenyard’s frozen vegetable factory in Baju, Hungary, was the source of the Listeria outbreak. The study found that the main factors affecting contamination and growth of Listeria monocytogenes during processing are hygiene of the raw materials and process water; hygienic conditions of the food processing environment; and the time and temperature combinations used for storage and processing such as blanching and cooling. Investigations in the Greenyard outbreak showed that some frozen items could be defrosted and used in salads or as ingredients in other ready‐to‐eat (RTE) products sold to consumers without undergoing a kill step. @ https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2020/04/efsa-identifies-ways-to-reduce-listeria-risk-in-frozen-vegetables/