Thermal Processing of Ready-to-eat Meat Products
March 13-15, 2007
The Ohio State University
Safe Handling of RTE Meat Products Post-Cook - Prof. Robert Rust, Rust Associates, Inc.
Even if you follow all of the science based recommendations for proper cooking and chilling of Ready-to-Eat (RTE) processed meat products you can undo all of those good efforts by failing to pay attention to the risks of post processing contamination. Up until a product is in a secure package it is vulnerable to these risk factor. Good contamination prevention begins with plant design that is conducive to contamination prevention. Not only is plant design and construction critical but also so is the choice of easy to clean equipment. All phases of equipment maintenance need to be studied. Personnel and materials entering a “clean area” need to be monitored. Personal hygiene of personnel handling finished RTE products needs attention. Cleaning procedures need to be addressed as does the selection and training of sanitation personnel.