Food Safety Comes Naturally to Arkansas

Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of a year-long series that highlights the food safety initiatives, programs, and activities implemented in select U.S. states.

If chicken and rice is one of your favorite go-to comfort dishes, you might want to send a thank you note to Arkansas. The alluring land of the scenic, rugged Ozarks, some 2,000 dazzling underworld limestone caves, and soothing hot springs ranks number two in the nation in broiler production and number one in rice.

Arkansas is actually the only state ranked in the top 10 for all three categories of broiler, turkey, and egg production, according to the Poultry Federation, a trade association that supports the poultry and egg industries in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

Chicken and Rice Dinner

Tyson Foods, Inc. is doing its part to contribute to your favorite chicken and rice recipe, as well as to the strengths of Arkansas food safety and beyond, says Suzanne Finstad, MS, the company’s vice president of food safety and regulatory compliance. Based in Springdale, Ark., Tyson is one of the world’s largest producers of meat and poultry, reporting fiscal year 2015 sales of $40.6 billion. Some 128,000 head of beef, 401,000 head of hogs, and 35 million chickens were processed weekly by Tyson in 2015, totaling a whopping 68 million pounds of product per week last year.

More than 4,000 independent farmers have contracts to raise chickens for Tyson Foods, which includes more than 1,700 in the state of Arkansas, Finstad reports. Tyson also operates 15 food processing plants in Arkansas.

“Tyson Foods is an industry leader in terms of food safety and analytics,” Finstad boasts. “We take pride in the fact that our programs have been recognized by regulatory authorities as best practices and, in some cases, even referenced as examples in published compliance guidance.”

One such example of this, Finstad notes, is Tyson’s trademarked Sentinel Site Program for microbiological monitoring of the ready-to-eat (RTE) processing environment.

“The Sentinel Site Program is a rigorous environmental microbiological surveillance program we launched in 1999, well before the regulatory requirements of 9 CFR §430 were promulgated,” Finstad relates.

She says that the Sentinel Site Program is designed as an on-going verification of the hazard analysis regarding the potential for post-processing contamination of RTE products with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm).

“Specifically, it represents an ongoing assessment of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan and the conclusion that post-processing contamination of RTE products with Lm is not a hazard reasonably likely to occur,” Finstad explains. “This conclusion is justified by the data previously collected, which demonstrates that food contact surfaces are not harboring Lm. These data continue to be collected and analyzed to assess the ongoing potential for this hazard to occur.”

According to Finstad, data are collected through the Sentinel Site Program on a weekly basis from food contact surfaces, non-food contact surfaces, as well as indirect-food contact surfaces in all of Tyson’s RTE manufacturing facilities.

“If and when a surface returns a positive test result for Listeria spp., an investigation is conducted and corrective actions are taken before the line is eligible to resume production,” Finstad says. “Once production has resumed, the surface is subject to intensified monitoring for Listeria spp. to confirm that a harborage does not exist. In the event that any surface on the production line returns a positive test result for Listeria spp. concurrent with this intensified monitoring, we immediately reassess the HACCP plan and incorporate a critical control point for the control of Lm. In the event that test results necessitate finished product testing for Lm, a robust sampling plan is employed. This sampling plan is based upon International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods criteria for a severe hazard.”

The Sentinel Site Program also includes provisions for random sampling of finished products, Finstad adds. “These samples are collected as a verification of the effectiveness of the program,” she points out. “Over the course of the last 17 years, we have consistently demonstrated our ability to maintain our RTE processing areas in a manner that ensures the production of safe and trusted food products.”

In addition to the Sentinel Site Program, all of Tyson’s processing locations are committed to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and maintain such certifications, Finstad says. “We extend this commitment to our supplier partners and contract manufacturers by requiring that they also achieve and maintain GFSI certification,” she relates.

The Arkansas rice industry is also committed to maintaining high food safety and quality standards, according to Kevin McGilton, vice president of government affairs for Riceland Foods, Inc., a farmer-owned cooperative based in Stuttgart, Ark. Riceland bills itself as the world’s largest miller and marketer of rice (and one of the Mid-South’s major soybean processors). The company provides marketing services for rice (and soybeans) grown by its 6,000 farmer-members in Arkansas and Missouri. Each year, its 1,500 employees receive, store, transport, process, and market more than 125 million bushels (2.5 million metric tons) of grain, says McGilton. A major rice exporter, Riceland markets rice products under the Riceland label, private labels, as ingredients, and in bulk. Riceland products are sold across the U.S. and to more than 75 foreign countries.

“Riceland rice mills are held to a high standard of quality and food protection,” McGilton emphasizes. “Facilities are registered with the FDA and are subject to the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In addition, they must pass USDA Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) inspections and many mills have FGIS offices inside their facilities. For an even greater degree of quality and food safety, Riceland mills are also certified annually by third-party auditors for compliance to the standards of the Global Food Safety Initiative and the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQF). When implementing these well-recognized, national and international standards, SQF not only evaluates the quality and food safety of activities that go on in the rice mills, but also requires the mills to evaluate their vendors who supply them with materials and inputs.”

Arkansas is a very important agricultural state, Finstad emphasizes. “It’s home to companies engaged in all aspects of the food chain from harvest, processing/manufacturing, transportation, and retail,” she says.

The tremendous presence of the food industry, especially in the Northwest portion of the state, is a great strength of Arkansas food safety culture, says Steven Ricke, PhD, the Donald “Buddy” Wray Food Safety Endowed Chair and director of the Center for Food Safety (CFS) within the University of Arkansas (UA) System Division of Agriculture, Fayetteville.

“So many companies, from farm to fork, including retail and auxiliary partners, are based here in Arkansas,” Dr. Ricke concurs.

Razorback Backing

Arkansas food industry stakeholders find some of their best friends and strongest food safety allies at the UA.

“The university strives to be supportive of our state’s food industry,” Dr. Ricke says. “We do all we can to partner with stakeholders, bring new ones into the state, conduct relevant research to benefit the food industry, and act upon related issues as they come up.”

Dr. Ricke is especially proud of the Arkansas Security Research and Education Institute, also known as ASCENT, a collaboration with the UA College of Engineering for which he serves as a co-director. One of ASCENT’s key research initiatives is food and water security, he notes.

ASCENT’s mission is to identify and solve modern security challenges in the areas of cyber, transportation, critical infrastructure, and food/water; establish and grow partnerships with industry professionals to ensure that the security research retains significant and practical impacts, develop and support educational initiatives that continuously evolve with state-of-the-art security issues and technologies in all thrust areas; and serve as the Arkansas’ source for communication and awareness of security threats, solutions, and needs.

“ASCENT addresses food biosecurity and cybersecurity, and it is innovative in that it links food safety to big data,” Dr. Ricke relates. “As more data is generated from whole genome sequencing of foodborne pathogens from food and other sources, the ability to not only process that data for in-depth analyses but protect such data from external cyber threats becomes critical. Part of ASCENT’s goal is to work with industry to tackle these issues and also provide the training tools for the next generation of UA graduates that work in the food industry.”

“For the first time, we are leveraging tools from the engineering and computer science space to address food security challenges,” adds Chase Rainwater, PhD, a UA associate professor of industrial engineering and co-director of ASCENT. “The amount of data available to analysts in the food domain is both intimidating and exciting. It is pivotal that the food industry brings in the best tools to learn from this information. Students from engineering have already benefited from partnering with Dr. Ricke’s lab and the solutions we are developing in the machine learning space will be of interest to a number of players in the industry.”

The CFS is a key strength of food safety programs and initiatives in Arkansas, concurs Harrison Pittman, JD, LLM, director of the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC). (Also see, www.agandfoodlaw.com), also based at UA’s main campus in Fayetteville.

“In conducting research on both safety and quality of foods, the CFS not only serves stakeholders and consumers but also provides a platform for interdisciplinary research and outreach with faculty and others in the UA system and beyond,” Pittman says. “Arkansas also stands out nationally in this area because of the Arkansas Food Innovation Center (AFIC). AFIC works with food entrepreneurs in developing value-added products, which specifically includes ongoing workshops and programs that address food safety.”

According to Pittman, the NALC, which is touted as “the nation’s leading source for agricultural and food law research and information,” works closely with colleagues in the CFS and AFIC. “The NALC provides objective educational outreach on issues such as states’ cottage food law, FSMA, and related legal liability concerns,” he explains. “One recent example is the “Plan. Produce. Profit” workshop series led by AFIC, which includes multi-day training and development from idea concept to market realization for food entrepreneurs.”

Collaboration is the primary strength of food safety programs for Arkansas, says John Marcy, PhD, CFS, professor and poultry processing Extension specialist, as well as graduate program coordinator of the UA Poultry Science Department.

For starters, he relates, UA is a strong partner of the Arkansas Agriculture Department, noting that, along with poultry and rice, Arkansas is also a major producer of fruit and vegetables.

“Anyone who has the latest and greatest idea for food safety will almost always find a path to Northwest Arkansas to talk to both processors and retailers,” Dr. Marcy points out. “Having Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and purveyor of food here, also means there is a spotlight on the safety of things grown in Arkansas. For example, when CDC comes to Bentonville to talk about the safety of poultry, everyone listens.” Dr. Marcy is referring to the occasion when experts from CDC came to Walmart’s headquarters in 2013 to talk about Salmonella in poultry and to solicit the company’s help in creating a way to drive it down (similar to actions taken a few years earlier regarding E. coli O157:H7 in beef).

“On February 5, 2014, Walmart hosted a Poultry Safety Summit for domestic and international poultry, retail, regulatory, and academic stakeholders,” Dr. Marcy relates. “In December 2014, Walmart announced their food safety requirements for all of their poultry suppliers. At the 2016 annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) in St. Louis, Walmart’s vice president of food safety, Frank Yiannas, announced that their own testing indicated that chicken parts were now at a two percent Salmonella rate, which is a dramatic reduction.”

The Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, the Arkansas Hospitality Association, along with the UA System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service (CES) provide up-to-date information and education to food service managers in the private sector and to all of the state parks within the Arkansas system on an annual basis, Dr. Marcy says.

“The CES is working in cooperation with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission – Manufacturing Solutions to make the new FSMA Food Safety Preventive Controls for Human Foods training available throughout the state in a timely manner,” Dr. Marcy relates. “This includes the major rice processors in the state that came under this regulation on Monday, September 19, 2016.”

The CES hosts a quarterly informal educational exchange on HACCP and food safety between the poultry and meat processors from a four state area and the Springdale District Office of the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service Office of Field Operations, Dr. Marcy adds. “This HACCP roundtable has been in existence since November 1997,” he notes.

Moreover, the Poultry Federation also hosts the premier annual food safety meeting for all aspects of the poultry industry, in collaboration with UA. The 2017 meeting is scheduled for February 21 and 22 in Branson, Miss.

“The UA Bumpers College of Agricultural and Food Sciences offers an online master of science in food safety for those people working in industry to get the additional skills necessary to do the demanding task of producing safe food,” Dr. Marcy mentions. (Finstad is a graduate of this program.)

Food safety programs and initiatives in Arkansas are exceptional, says Peggy Cook, PhD, CFS, with Cargill Turkey and Cooked Meats Food Safety and Regulatory, Springdale. Cargill has additional presence in Arkansas, namely a Value Added Meats and Foodservice office in Booneville, AgHorizons United States, a grain and shipping operation in West Memphis, a Cargill Ag Supply Chain operation in Fayetteville, and a sales office in Bentonville, totaling 1,203 employees in the state.

“Arkansas stands out because of the support by, and focus on, the food industry resulting from the large scale of food production in the state,” Dr. Cook explains.

For its part, Cargill is a global company and contributes to food safety initiatives in Arkansas, she relates. “Ensuring the production and distribution of high quality, wholesome, affordable, and compliant products is core to Cargill’s commitment to the communities and customers we serve,” Dr. Cook emphasizes. “We communicate relevant food safety information both internally and externally. Cargill’s leadership is committed to providing resources that enable the company’s employees to fulfill their responsibility and continually improve the company’s programs and processes.”

Awesome Affiliate

Dr. Cook is the 2016 president of the Arkansas Association for Food Protection (AAFP), an exceptionally strong and active IAFP affiliate chapter.

Chartered in April 2009 under the co-leadership of Dr. Ricke and representatives of Tyson and Walmart, the AAFP includes members representing the world’s largest food companies. “We have the world’s largest retailer/grocer, the largest meat company, and leading distribution/refrigerated transport companies headquartered within our state,” Dr. Cook points out. “So AAFP membership includes an impressive and diverse group of food processors, produce, poultry, and livestock growers located around the state ranging from vegetables, fruit, prepared meals, canned foods, frozen foods, juices, wine, fresh meat, and sliced meats. We have nationally prominent schools of business and agriculture represented, including the CFS.”

The 250-member AAFP holds an annual two-day conference each September in downtown Fayetteville, complete with a tradeshow and a host of prominent U.S. food industry speakers.

“Because the food industry is so important to the state’s economy, we are fortunate that high profile food industry leaders come to participate in our conference,” Dr. Cook says, noting that the 2016 event drew some 300 attendees.

“In 2016 we were very honored to offer the first ever FBI Food Defense Workshop in the U.S., during which attendees could gain a certificate of participation from the FBI,” Dr. Cook relates. “We worked with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to present a tabletop exercise that focused on food defense at poultry processing facilities.

Dr. Ricke believes much of the strong relationship between UA and Arkansas’s food industry is showcased during AAFP’s annual meeting.

“AAFP has grown considerably since its founding and it encompasses a broad range of food safety topics at its annual meetings, including fresh produce, preharvest interventions such as prebiotics, and issues concerning retail food,” he says. “AAFP is not only recognized as the premier food safety meeting locally, but received national acclaim from IAFP in 2014 by being awarded the Best Affiliate meeting. The recently concluded 2016 meeting continues the trend of covering emerging issues in food safety by including new developments in whole genome sequencing, FSMA, pet food safety, and for the first time a food defense workshop conducted by the FBI.”

Insider Insights

Brian Umberson, a lifelong Arkansas resident who works as a sales representative for Sample6, a purveyor of pathogen control solutions and technology, has his finger on the pulse of the Arkansas food industry, its history, and food safety culture, including through his service as the AAFP’s 2016 director of marketing.

“Arkansas has always been a big player in food and prepared meals because of its central location, clean water, being number one in rice, a big producer of soybeans, and having a history of growing produce like spinach, apples, watermelon, and tomatoes,” Umberson relates. “The real advancement of the Arkansas food processing sector came when Tyson exploded from 1940 to today, which modeled the way for more food processors and helped establish infrastructure for water and other utilities. Walmart added to Tyson’s impact as they exploded from the 1970s to the present and eventually became a giant in grocery. Walmart and Tyson created a grocer, food processor, distribution, and total supply chain that became the Arkansas food sector we know today. So it can be said we take farm to fork to a different level here in Arkansas.”

Umberson says UA’s development into what he calls a “top agricultural school,” compounded by the university’s involvement in the congressionally funded Food Safety Consortium, established in 1988, along with its establishment of the CFS in 1997, drove a culture of research and continuous improvement in Arkansas.

“The UA has been instrumental in bridging the gap between regulatory agencies and industry in an effort to support a continuous improvement culture,” Umberson says, noting that the quarterly round table meetings convened by Dr. Marcy for about 50 to 100 industry experts in the region to meet with regional regulatory personnel “are rare across this nation.”

In Umberson’s opinion, from his Arkansas insider point of view, Tyson’s growth over the years created a need for profits, quality, and efficiency, which drove Tyson to donate money to the UA for poultry research to drive innovations.

“Walmart has funded projects and research to grow or improve multiple food groups,” Umberson says. “Both Tyson and Walmart worked with the UA to develop the culture of research and continuous improvement that we benefit from today. Walmart’s move into grocery exposed them to temperature sensitive foods that required better food safety measures, thus Walmart demanded better food safety from its vendors. It will be interesting to see how our sector can support Walmart’s new dairy processing venture.”

A number of major food companies have contributed to the history of Arkansas’s outstanding food safety culture and they continue to contribute to the pursuit of innovations and continuous improvement at all levels of the supply chain, Umberson believes. “Today almost all of the major food companies have facilities in Arkansas and they service Walmart, so we have prepared foods companies here, including Nestle USA, Frito-Lay North America, Inc., ConAgra Food, Inc., Land O’Frost, Inc., and Pinnacle Foods, Inc.,” he notes. “Add to those multiple poultry grower networks for Cargill, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, OK Foods, Inc., Simmons Foods, Inc., Peco Foods, Inc., Georges, Inc., Ozark Mountain Poultry , Twin River Foods, and Butterball, LLC.”

The last piece of the exemplary Arkansas food safety puzzle, Umberson says, is that the personnel/talent in Arkansas has grown up in the state’s research and continuous improvement culture. “Many of the talented workers have worked for multiple companies, thus the culture is being reinforced or spread all the time,” he points out. “We have the best sector for research because we have the grain/feed, fruit/produce, organic (milk, poultry, and produce), grower networks, transportation, ingredient manufacturers, prepared meals, ready to eat, and protein processing facilities. As a result of these combined factors, the Arkansas food sector is indeed a major player, because it is reinforced by the success of all of our home grown companies.”