Pete, Clare and colleagues:
As for micro standards for sashimi grade seafood, I do not know of
any regulations from FDA or other agencies which is why we had to set
our own micro and chemical parameters for the products we use at our
retail sushi operations. The only concern any inspectors have is the
parasite destruction guarantee. Some have also brought up concerns
with histamines, but very few. Other than a few specific organisms
of concern for some seafood, sashimi standards should be set as any
other ready-to-eat item.
We provide sushi for retail establishments in pre-packaged form and
therefore the requirements for sushi restaurants may be slightly
different. My main concern would be with the seafood vendors. Many
of them will declare that the products they provide are "sashimi"
grade but with no standards to back up those claims. In the U.S.
parasite destruction is required for those species where that hazard
is identified but you'll find that most chefs will claim that they
use "fresh" salmon and other products. This may be because they do
not know, maybe it is delivered thawed by the local supplier (who may
or may not have froze it according to the requirements), or they may
even use fresh, never frozen, salmon. The term "fresh" has been
linked to higher quality in the minds of many consumers and therefore
the restaurants use this as a selling point even though the product
may have been previously frozen and serving certain species with
proper freezing is against regulations.
Sushi rice is another critical part of sushi preparation, for many
reasons. Most of our locations use acidification as a control but
the final sushi products must be cooled to below 40F before put onto
display in a self-service case. However, sushi restaurants do not
cool the items before serving to customers since such a short time
lapses between preparation and consumption. Once the rice is
acidified, time is not used as a control and therefore it can be
stored at room temperature where the quality is best and it is also
easiest to work with. We discussed the CCP of acidification in
length during a previous list serve topic but if anyone would like to
speak with me about it more, please feel free to contact me directly.
I was one of the speakers at the Boston Show so please let me know if
you would like info on what was discussed.
Best regards,
Kevin
Kevin M. Holbert
Quality Assurance and Food Safety Manager
Advanced Fresh Concepts Franchise Corp.
19205 South Laurel Park Rd.
Rancho Dominguez, CA 90220
Phone: 310-604-3200 Ext. 109
Fax: 310-604-6449
At 07:47 AM 4/23/2007, Otwell,Walter S wrote:
>Monitoring and maintaining proper pH is the key
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu] On
>Behalf Of Clare Winkel
>Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 7:03 PM
>To: straddiegal@optusnet.com.au; dossantoscarlos@globo.com;
>caput100@chapman.edu; 'Peter Snyder'
>Cc: 'Seafood HACCP'
>Subject: RE: Microbiological standards for fresh sushi fish
>
>Dear All,
>
>I forgot to say the problem with the rice in sushi, is that can't be
>kept at
>5C or below, as it goes crunchy and loses the correct texture required.
>So
>time is the key control to minimize potential micro/toxin growth during
>the
>prep/storage/display steps. Most countries have a 2/4 hour rule for
>products
>like this, where products may rise above 5C but not for any longer than
>2 or
>4 hrs.
>
>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 Clare Winkel
>Sent: 22 April 2007 20:48
>To: dossantoscarlos@globo.com; caput100@chapman.edu; 'Peter Snyder'
>Cc: 'Seafood HACCP'
>Subject: 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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>07:39
>
>
>
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