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Table 11.6

Examples of equipment-related spoilage or foodborne illness

Equipment

Problem

Consequences

Correction

Grain silo

Areas of high moisture

Mouldy grain

a

Proper ventilation and grain

turnover

Can reformer

Holes in cans of salmon

Botulism

Proper maintenance of

equipment

Gelatin injector

Welds difficult to clean

Salmonellosis from meat pies

Smooth weld

Wood smoke sticks

Bacteria surviving cleaning

Spoilage of sausage

Replace wood with metal

Heat exchanger (cooling side)

Cracked cooling unit permitting

entrance of contaminatedwater

Salmonellosis from milk powder

Replace heat exchanger

Pump

Worn gasket

Spoilage of mayonnaise

Replace gaskets more frequently

Deaerator

Not properly cleaned or located

in processing scheme

Contamination of pasteurized

milk, enterotoxigenic cheese

Properly clean deaerator and

move upstream of pasteurizer

Commercial oven

Poor heat distribution

Areas of under-cooking, rapid

spoilage potential foodborneillness

Correct heat distribution in

oven, monitor temperature todetect failure

aMoulds can produce a range of mycotoxinsFrom Shapton and Shapton (1991)

416 Controlling the Microbiological Quality of Foods