Seminar aims to make processors aware of choking hazards

The global food quality and safety analysts said that a training seminar they are hosting at their US facility in October provides in depth analysis and understanding of crucial food safety issues related to choking and choking prevention.

Food or small objects can cause choking when they get caught in the throat and block the airway, preventing oxygen from getting to the lungs and the brain.

The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) says that when the brain goes without oxygen for more than four minutes, brain damage or even death may occur.

Top food choking hazards are candy and gum, according to ConsumerReports.org. It claims that foods of all shapes and textures, including fruits and vegetables, present hazards.

Intertek said that attendees at the Food Physical Safety Training seminar at its Oak Brook site will be taught the theory behind the company’s airway obstruction by food hazard analysis methodology and a food assessment workshop will allow the participants to practice the concepts using sample food products.

“This serves to reinforce the learning experience with actual hands on experience and provides a forum for questions and answers with our food safety experts and external medical expert,”​ stated the company.

According to the food safety experts, following the training, participants will be able to identify potentially hazardous food characteristics, which will in turn allow them to make informed risk decisions in relation to their products line and mitigate the hazard of airway obstruction.

Children at risk​

Every child is at risk for choking, says the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It claims that younger children are particularly at risk because of their tendency to place objects in their mouths, poor chewing ability, and narrow airways compared with those of older children and adults.

The UK’s Child Accident Prevention Trust say 10,000 children between the ages of five and 14 - and 15,000 under the age of five - are treated at British accident and emergency units for choking incidents. Deaths are quite rare. However, an 11-year-old girl died last month in the UK as a result of choking on a piece of chicken.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires certain products to carry labels warning of choking risks such as some cereals and dietary supplements containing the fibre, psyllium husk seed (PHS), which can potentially swell and block the throat or oesophagus when not taken with liquid.

Intertek claims that it can also evaluate packaging design and materials for potential risks of physical harm to consumers. It says that convenience packaging, in particular, can increase the risk of choking.

The company said that it has an extensive database and knowledge of consumer behaviour to analyse package design and usage risks in terms of airway obstruction.

Quality control​

Global president of Intertek’s food services, Jochen Zoller told FoodProductionDaily.com that the company is unique in terms of the one-stop-shop global safety and quality services it provides to food processors to ensure quality control for processes, systems and products in the sector.

He said that global trading, government requirements and consumer demands add to the pressures facing manufacturers to ensure their food products are safe.

“We see some clients struggling to keep up-to-date with the pace of regulatory changes and what testing they should be doing,”​ said Zoller.

He said that Intertek, through its team of local experts, can offer producers worldwide reliable testing services on a day-to-day basis, on site or through on demand analysis of samples, as well as provide guidance on how to tackle issues and changing regulations and standards.

According to Zoller, Intertek offers a raft of services for the food sector including testing for antibiotic residues and contaminants, HACCP and GMP compliance, food packaging analysis, product development, traceability tools, staff training, quality control monitoring, data resources and supply chain risk management.

“A producer can sign up for our monthly quality control programme, whereby we turn up unannounced and walk through the critical parts of a production plant to provide on the spot advice to the quality control manager on areas that we feel need to be improved upon to ensure product safety,”​ said Zoller.

Intertek said that it also offers ‘just-in-time’ testing to major dairy and meat producers who want their milk, cream, yoghurt and meat products tested for microbiological factors en route from their production centres to delivery to stores across Europe.

“Our testing at this point in the supply chain helps to ensure the products’ quality and safety and to protect the customer’s trade and reputation with its end customer,”​ said Michael Richer, food chemist at Intertek’s BioData laboratory in Germany.