Food safety in pickles relies on critical control points, eVGN May 2013

Pickling cucumbers are a unique crop when it comes to meeting food safety requirements. It’s important to understand the crop’s differences, as well the various hitches in the process, in order to shape appropriate documentation for pickle safety.

That’s the message from Phil Tocco, a Michigan State University Extension educator in Jackson County, Mich. Tocco identified seven distinct steps in the cucumber process, including harvest, transport, receiving, grading, cooling, transport and brining.

For each process within the seven steps, there is a risk analysis that should be documented in an operation’s food safety manual. Common themes should address water, worker habits, traceback and sanitation.

For water use, the document should recognize that bacteria can spread easily, all water must be potable, and the judicious use of sanitizers is strongly encouraged during hydrocooling.

In general, physical hazards are most important with regards to worker habits. What workers carry in, wear and use when working can impact food safety. To a lesser extent, sick workers can pose a food safety risk.

Traceback is key to both food safety and industry viability. According to Tocco, commingling of product from different fields, growers or picking dates is permissible, but it’s still essential to know what is contained in the tank, truck and load.

“If you do nothing else … make sure you are tracing the pickling cucumbers back at least one step, or to the field they came from,” Tocco said.

In terms of sanitation, the product may be dirty, but the containers should not be. Reasonable sanitation should be implemented based on the crop status at a given point in the product flow. Clearly making and diverting culls also is important; once it hits the grader, if it touches the ground, it’s a cull.

Tocco prefers that the food safety manual become the measuring stick.

“All the auditor is looking for is ‘Do you have a plan?’ and ‘Are you carrying it out?'”

Daily documentation efforts mean just that – it must be done on a regular basis.

“More documentation is better than less,” he concluded.

Tocco said cucumbers harvested for pickles and cucumbers harvested for fresh consumption are not the same; the responsibilities of Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices end at the time the product is received for packing; and studies show properly made brine with appropriate pH and hold times will achieve a 5 log reduction of E. coli, listeria and salmonella.

– Gary Pullano