A recent project led by Purdue University researchers has identified challenges to food safety in the low-moisture food industry, ranging from culture-based barriers to hygienic design and hesitance adopting food safety technologies.

A recent survey of the low-moisture food industry and relevant stakeholders has revealed the sector’s key food safety challenges and research needs related to food safety culture, sanitation, pathogen reduction, and technology adoption.

Dry sanitation is a pivotal practice in the food processing industry, particularly for facilities that produce low-moisture or low-water-activity foods. This article explores some of the trending technologies and approaches being developed to ensure the microbial safety of low-moisture foods in dry food processing facilities. 

This article discusses the latest research elucidating the main reason why foodborne pathogens like Salmonella are more resistant to heat inactivation in low-moisture food (LMF) systems, including quantitative data relating thermal treatment temperature and water activity/relative humidity to the log-reduction rate of bacterial pathogens in different LMF. Case studies on pilot-scale thermal treatments for the control of Salmonella in LMF are also presented. 

A pervasive trend exists to take larger and more frequent samples to address microbial contamination. This trend has touched almonds and is expected to hit other nut products, which can be considered for aggregated sampling as a solution.

New research suggests that oil formulations with food-grade organic acids can kill dried Salmonella on stainless steel surfaces.

On Tuesday morning at the 2022 International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting, leading industry academics discussed the topic of enteric virus persistence in low-moisture foods.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recently published the report, “Ranking of Low-Moisture Foods in Support of Microbiological Risk Management.”

A University of Arkansas professor received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study how bacteria persist in low-moisture food processing environments. 

Cronobacter, formerly known as Enterobacter sakazakii, can be found naturally in the environment but survives for prolonged periods in low-moisture foods. Learn what can be done to control this pathogen.