RE: Microbiological standards for fresh sushi fish

From: Clare Winkel (straddiegal@optusnet.com.au)
Date: Sun Apr 22 2007 - 12:47:32 PDT

  • Next message: Clare Winkel: "RE: Microbiological standards for fresh sushi fish"

    Dear colleagues,

    The other key hazard with sushi (rice balls combined with other ingredients-
    sashimi is the raw fish) is bacillus cereus (and toxin) from the rice. This
    hazard is often forgotten and is actually the most common problem due to how
    the rice mix is made and the usual time prep/storage problems especially at
    the retail level.

    The key control measure/critical limit is the pH of the rice mix. Most
    places use the traditional vinegar addition to the rice but some of my past
    clients have used lemon juice.

    And then there is always Staph (and toxin) from the handlers of the rice.

    When auditing sushi outlets and factories I am always looking for CCP of
    rice prep with a monitored critical limit of rice mix pH and a CCP of
    storage time with a limit usually between 2- 4 hrs (to limit toxin
    production).

    More often than not the fish/seafood used with sushi is either smoked or
    cooked. It is the less commonly served (at retail level) sashimi product
    that always uses raw seafood.

    There was a very good presentation of sushi food safety controls at the
    Boston Seafood show from 3 speakers from very large processors and
    retailers. I don't have my report of the presentation with me, but if I
    recall correctly, the key CCP's were to freeze all incoming fish/freeze
    sushi rolls/time/temp of retail storage/display of sushi rolls/rice mix Ph.

    I think if you know the species being used the FDA Fish and fisheries
    Products Hazards and Control Guidelines will give you the relevant species
    specific hazards for the incoming raw fish
    (histamine/cigeaterra/parasites/virus's).

    One method to control these problems, is to write the relevant controls and
    verification aspects into approved supplier contracts and verification
    program, as would be implemented for a HACCP based QA management system like
    BRC/WQA/SQF.

    Clare

    Clare Winkel
    Project Manager
    IFQC Ltd
    Dundalk
    Co Louth
    Ireland

    -----Original Message-----
    From: owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf
    Of dossantoscarlos@globo.com
    Sent: 20 April 2007 03:10
    To: caput100@chapman.edu; Peter Snyder
    Cc: Seafood HACCP
    Subject: Re: Microbiological standards for fresh sushi fish

    Dear colleagues,

    Please check on ENTREZ PUBMED on fish parasites clicking on
    DIPHYLLOBOTHRIDAE
    (Diphyllobothrium), ANISAKIDAE (Anisakis)and you will find scientific
    evidence
    that parasitic ictiozoonosis are a serious problem due to consumption of
    fish dishes based on raw fish (sashimi, sushi, ceviche, lomi-lomi, etc).

    Therefore, you must consider this hazard/risk when dealing with
    Japanese-style
    fish dishes.

    Carlos

    Carlos A Lima dos Santos
    Rua Cel Eurico de Souza Gomes, 510
    22620-320 Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brasil
    e-mail: dossantoscarlos@globo.com

     '>'-- Mensagem Original --
     '>'Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:22:04 -0700 (PDT)
     '>'Subject: Re: Microbiological standards for fresh sushi fish
     '>'From: "Amilcar Caputo" <caput100@chapman.edu>
     '>'To: "Peter Snyder" <osnyder@hi-tm.com>
     '>'Cc: "Seafood HACCP" <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
     '>'Reply-To: caput100@chapman.edu
     '>'
     '>'
     '>'Pete, sushi is a fairly young business and that's why even regulators
     '>'don't have a comprehensive clear picture of it yet. However, pathogenic
     '>'bacteria, histamine, and parasite hazards have been around in this
     '>'business for quite a long time and the retailers (at least the major
    ones)
     '>'are definitely aware of that.
     '>'
     '>'As of any other RTE products, Listeria should be a must on your list.
     '>'
     '>'Amilcar
     '>'
     '>'> Good Morning
     '>'>
     '>'> More and more sushi raw fish is being sold in sushi bars and I am
     '>'> writing retail HACCP plans for some of them. While much of this fish
    is
     '>'> pasteurized or smoked, I can't find any raw sushi fish suppliers
     '>'> actually doing microbiological validation of the safety of this raw
    fish
     '>'> per the FDA Fish and fisheries Products Hazards and Control
    Guidelines.
     '>'> FDA doesn't seem to do any. The parasites don't seem to be a problem.
     '>'> But I do hear, occasionally, of Vibrio outbreaks caused by raw sushi
    fish.
     '>'>
     '>'> Can anyone tell me if there are some pathogenic microbiological tests
     '>'> they believe suppliers should do, and the frequency, to assure the
     '>'> microbiological safety of sushi fish to retail outlets?
     '>'>
     '>'> Pete Snyder
     '>'>
     '>'> --
     '>'> O. Peter Snyder, Jr., Ph.D.
     '>'> Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management
     '>'> 670 Transfer Road, Suite 21A; St Paul, Minnesota 55114; USA
     '>'> http://www.hi-tm.com
     '>'> Tel 651-646-7077 FAX 651-646-5984
     '>'> One worldwide uniform set of retail food safety guidelines
     '>'>
     '>'>
     '>'
     '>'
     '>'Amilcar Caputo
     '>'Cell: (714) 448 5355
     '>'

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