Abstract
The salty snack food category includes products such as potato chips, tortilla chips, corn puffs, popcorn, and pretzels. Although rare, salty snack products have been involved in microbiological contaminant-related recalls and outbreaks due to Salmonella. A food safety framework of risk assessment, risk management, and hazard control and monitoring can be used to design and implement targeted microbiological control strategies. Salty snack manufacturing involves thermal processes, such as frying, baking, popping, and/or extrusion, which are capable of dramatically reducing the microbial load associated with the raw materials; therefore, the key food safety risk for savory snacks would be from infectious gastrointestinal pathogen contamination following the cook step. Hence, risk mitigation strategies would focus on the two main sources of contamination which are ingredients added post-cook (i.e., topical seasonings) and the process environment. Programs to monitor the effectiveness of these controls would include a sensitive ingredient program, sanitation verification, and environmental monitoring for pathogens.
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Kuehm, J., Casas, D. (2014). Salty Snack Foods. In: Gurtler, J., Doyle, M., Kornacki, J. (eds) The Microbiological Safety of Low Water Activity Foods and Spices. Food Microbiology and Food Safety(). Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2062-4_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2062-4_15
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