Two days to register for Food Safety Briefing

The annual 90-minute event, entitled 'Managing Risk in a Post-Pandemic World', which is sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific and supported by Premier Analytical Services and Ashbury, takes place at 3pm UK time on 7 October. Speakers include Darren Davies, head of the National Food Crime Unit at the Food Standards Agency, and Denis Treacy, chief executive of Culture Compass.

Addressing the topic 'It all comes out in the wash? Effective allergen and pathogen management', Alexis Guest, group technical manager at Dalziel will warn pathogens still pose a threat to dry goods. "Most people would say: 'Pathogens and dry ingredients? There musn't be any risk. Well there is a risk based on a number of factors,"​ he says in his presentation. "Pathogens can lie dormant in dry ingredients."​ When they come into contact with moisture and other things, they have the potential to start growing to unacceptable levels, he explains.

The 14 allergens​

He also outlines his approach to managing the 14 allergens flagged in UK and EU food safety legislation in a dry-clean setting, tackling products such as herbs and spices. 

"We might have to be mindful of those hidden allergens, which are things like gluten and coriander, cross-contamination at field level, peanut in garlic is another one,"​ says Guest in his presentation. "So it is looking at the potential risk not just of the content of the allergen, but where it could have been cross-contaminated further up in the supply chain."​

The webinar will also address how to cultivate a top-down culture of food safety management within food and drink processing businesses. It will also include an extensive Q&A discussion to allow registrants to pose specific questions to the expert presenters. For a full run-down of the programme, click here​​. Anyone interested can sign up​​ and download presentations for free.