Welcome to the Maine Farmcast. This is your host, Dr. Glenda Pereira, an assistant professor at the University of Maine and the dairy specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. For today's episode, we are going to be talking about all things food safety and some seafood as well. So we have a special guest.

We have Dr. Gülsün Akdemir Evrendilek. I'm really excited to be here with Dr.

Gülsün today. And please, would you let the listeners know a little bit about yourself?

Thank you. It's good to be here. I'm so excited about this today's podcast. Yeah. My full name is, I'm so sorry, this is too long, but Gülsün Akdemir Evrendilek, it's like kind of unusual even for the Turkish people.

Yeah. Because both my last names are like really long. So I'm associate extension professor at the University of Maine Corporate Extension, as you mentioned. So my background comes from like food science and technology department. So I have been teaching and I have been in academia for all my life after I finished my Ph.D.

So I have been like serving in different universities, like research, teaching and extension professor. And I work in the two different universities in Turkey. And I was affiliated with several universities as the visiting scholar or like teaching professor or research professor in different universities at the same time. But all my experiences gave me so much insights regarding like food industry, what food industry needs, what are the dimensions of the industry, which is very, very complicated, and what are the future trends? So especially food safety is important.

No matter where you are working as a food scientist, food safety is like really, really important issue all over the world. It doesn't matter if you are in the developing country, if you are in well developed countries. Still, we are facing the challenges, emerging pathogens, like emerging issues. So I joined University of Maine Corporate Extension exactly one year ago. So I'm so excited about my role and working with the seafood industry, especially I'm learning a lot from them.

And I hope they are like learning something from me too. So this is what I am doing basically. And the thing is like, my area of expert is like food microbiology, food safety. And also I am like one of

the experts, like developing novel processing technologies for the food industry. And this job really is all about learning every day. Like you mentioned, you're learning from the seafood industry here, but I wanted to mention something. So we had a discussion about how you developed a technology that could actually help Yes. Seeds germinate better, which then helped with yield and getting them established.

So not only are you a resource for the food community here in the state of Maine, which ties back to all aspects of farming because there's, you know, the production side. Yeah. But then there's, okay. Now what do we do with the food and how do we handle it safely so that the consumer or whoever is gonna be utilizing this product does it in a safe manner. And so I wanted to talk food safety in general.

And why should we, you know, put that at the center of Everything. Everything that we do when we when we have a product that we're gonna be consuming.

Yeah. The food is essential. You know, like we all have to like eat something like in order to survive. And when you think about like, we have like small child, like from zero to four years old, and then like we have like adolescents, like mature people and like elderly people. In a whole life span, lifetime span, we need different foods in, like, in every stage of our lives.

But basically, what all of them needs to have is, like, the they have to be nutritious, you know, like, because we are, like, eating the foods to get, like, some nutrients to keep our body healthy. But at the same time, they have to be safer, you know? Like, otherwise we will get sick. And then we, like, I'm sure, like, you are like reading the news and like listening to news every day. There are like so many recalls.

There are like so many infections, intoxication related to foodborne diseases. So the food that we are like consuming or we are producing should be safer so that, you know, we wanna make sure that people are eating this food, like keeping their health in a good condition. So the foods are like very good source of proteins, fats, vitamins, and carbohydrates. We load them and then we need these nutrients for our body and to keep our health in a good shape. So does the bacteria and viruses.

Also need carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, all sorts of nutrients. So we are in the competition with them actually. It depends like who is winning the race. So in order for us to have like these healthy foods, we have to kind of eliminate them or prevent them or kill them. So there are like different strategies to make our food safer for us.

The first thing first, we have to prevent contamination of this bacteria or like viruses or microorganism with food, but it's impossible. Think about it. We are like harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, and like all sorts of products from the farmland. If you have contamination sources in the field, you have to find out where this contamination is coming from, whether or not it's coming from the soil, whether or not it's coming from the water or the human or people working in the farm. And then after that, when you are harvesting, it's important that you are keeping the food in cold chain, which is like in refrigeration conditions.

And then just kind of like transmit or transfer it like as soon as possible to the like the If you are like selling to like markets, or if are selling to like the kind of processing plant. And then thinking about like how many different food products we are having on the market, right? We have like fresh produce, we have like processed produce, like we have frozen, dried, like all sorts of things. And then all sorts of formulations and like different ways of processing food is to make sure that we have nutritious, healthy, and safer foods. So it's like very complicated.

And nowadays, the bacteria or microorganism is not only things that we need to concern about. We have chemical contaminants. We have physical contaminants. We have detergents or chemicals that we are using when we are cleaning our processing equipment or like processing area, or like the tools that we are using. So the food industry and food safety covers all of them from like farm to fork, or from like the aqua land to the fork.

Basically, job starts from like the beginning to the end. Yeah. To make sure that like the food is produced is safer for everyone, like all ages. Yeah. And then nutritious also.

And I wanted to mention something. So you you said bacteria and viruses. And I often talk about this with the farmers that I work with, dairy farmers, because we want a dry and well ventilated environment.

And why is that? It's because when you have like moisture in the environment, the bacteria and viruses and fungi, of course also yeast, they like moisture. Like human body, think about it, we cannot live without moisture. But if the moisture level is higher, you have like more microorganisms growing in the environment. So they thrive more.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. It's like very basic motives. All creature needs water for their survival. And microorganism loves, they love the water.

So they can like synthesize like so many metabolites if there's enough water. So if you have higher moisture content in the area that where you are storing your products, you will start to see like in a couple of days, like mold growing. And there's a decay on like, especially like the cucumbers or like the parsley and other kinds of like the green vegetables. And then like, no matter what, if you have like higher moisture content, your product will go bad in couple days. And the thing is like this microorganism grows like much faster than human being.

So be careful, each single cell can divide into two on average, like twenty minutes. So by the end of the day, which is like twelve hours, you will have like millions, millions of microorganisms and they are enough to like spoil your food in a couple of days. So it is important when you are storing your products, especially in the farmland area, make sure that the storage area is clean, closed so that there won't be like any kind of like air contamination. And then if you can, it's suggested to have like positive air pressure in the storage area. Make sure it is dry.

Dry is important and it's not hot because this bacteria likes higher temperature and most of the pathogenic bacteria, we call it like mesophils, which is they grow in like the human body temperature, closer to temperature to human body. So if the temperature is higher, they grow faster. So make sure that the environment is like cold, dry, and also like free from like any kind of contamination sources. Yeah.

Thank you for explaining that because that's one thing. So, know, and on the dairy farm, it's like calves. Yeah. They're the most susceptible because their immunity is not what, you know, mature animal immunity is. And they need a dry, well ventilated environment.

If not, if they're in, you know, a wet condition, the the bacteria and viruses in that area just thrive and proliferate. And then they cause

disease. Especially young animals. They're like very prone to like any kind of like infection coming from outside sources and their area should be like very clean. And then the funny thing about some of the diseases, like animal sources, so if the animal has this kind of diseases when they are alive, so when you slaughter this animal, some of these diseases can transport from the meat to the human. Same, like it's true for the milk also.

We got like some of the bacteria and some of the diseases through the animals, they are transferring to the milk. And then from the milk, it goes to the cheese and even milk itself, or like the yogurt or other So the source is important, but my bottom line is like whatever food sample or whatever food we are having, the source is important. If you have like seafood, it's important that the seafood that you are harvesting or doing culturing, that the water is clean and safe there. If water is not clean, then sooner or later your animal will be infected or get contaminated. Same as with agricultural products or livestock too.

And does cooking or raising the temperature potentially minimize our risk of illness, but not completely. So and in some instances, like, pasteurization for dairy products is a great Good. Way Yeah. Sure. To Mhmm.

Reduce the bacterial load because milk in itself is is higher temperature. And so we we, at the farm, try to do as best as a job we can cooling it down. But like you said, bacteria multiply. They they they go faster than us. They go faster than But I'm curious.

So so cooking Is a way

to- Is a And can you elaborate more on that? The first thing or first practice, what can they do is that very important, that they have sanitation practices on a regular basis. And if possible, even though it's a small scale farm, put it in a written form, you know? Do it like regularly. We call it like SSOP, standard sanitary operational procedures.

So in terms of milking, like let's give an example from that. When you are milking from the animals, so the milk is like really, really warm, you know, like the temperature is like really high. So it's important that you cool down this milk as soon as possible and keep it in cool conditions. And then if you are converting into like cheese or yogurt, or if you are going to like drink it as a milk, make sure that you are pasteurizing it. And temperature and time is very important.

So you have to boil it enough to kill the bacteria or like other kind of like infectious agents so that they don't grow up. And then you can convert to like cheese or yogurt or whatever the product you would like to, but cooling down is like very important and essential. So you have to like cool it down as soon as possible and quickly as possible. Because the temperature's high, if your cooling system is not good enough, and then if it takes time to cool down, like if it takes like couple hours to cool it down to four degrees or something like that, then the bacteria will grow again. And then you may said, okay, I cooled down this thing, but it's already spoiled.

So it's important to have the best practices in your production area. And cooking is the best thing in firsthand. The other things like the every kind of food product, like not every kind, but most of the food products we are cooking to make it like edible for us, right? The cooking also has another purpose. Like if you cook in the high temperature, you are also killing the bacteria again.

Like this is important for like meat products, like dairy products, fruit and vegetables also. And seafood, but overall, if the food is produced, it is supposed to be and kept as supposed to be usual, they are safe. But don't we get outbreaks? Of course we do, because there are pit holes here and there. So you cannot predict everything.

Thanks to United States Department of Agriculture, they start up a very good program. Actually, this program start up for the astronaut who goes to space. So this NASA start up with the program, with the Pittsburgh company, So they were like, the basic thing was like, how we can produce safer food for the astronauts when they are in the space for like long time? So now, after they start up this program, it was like really successful. And then they were like, Why don't we apply this program for the food industry?

And then make sure that the food that we are producing for anyone is like safer. So this program is like right now mandatory for the food industry. So we call it like HACCP, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points. So this hazard analyzes critical control points, basically like the very complex, but easy to apply approach. It's like systematic review and preventive system.

So basically, this program aims to prevent biological, chemical, and physical contaminants from the food industry from start to the end. So most of the food industry should apply this HESI principles and programs. It is mandatory by USDA and FDA, because some of the foods are regulated by FDA, some of the foods are regulated by So no matter what you are producing, you are either regulated by FDA or USDA. And now they would like to make sure that from farm to fork, have like this whole traceability program.

And you teach the HACCP program, and I think you have an upcoming

one for poultry? So we are planning to teach meat and poultry HACCP and seafood HACCP in November.

November, yeah.

We would like people to be able to join It's the like two and a half day training program. So this will be like collaborative effort with Cooperative Extension and Department of Agriculture. Yeah.

So look for folks listening, look for that program. It's the HACCP. Yeah, meat and Meat and

The HACCP, yeah. Seafood HACCP. And the other things before I forgot, I would like to mention that sanitation is important. So as a University of Maine Cooperative Extension, we are on the process of launching a food process sanitation online course.

This is actually three level micro credential.

First level being online, and second level will gonna be like in person. Third level will be like kind of practical training. So this sanitation course is like useful for everyone, like not only for seafood industry, dairy industry, meat and poultry, and like even like the small home scale So home we are we are going to talk about what are the essential for the sanitation? What are the requirements from health and human services? So in terms of like inspection or like other kind of like paper works, what are they obligated to do?

So we are teaching them GMPs, which is like good manufacturing practices. And we are also going to talk about SSOPs, which is like standard sanitary operational procedure, how they can write, why it is important. And it's also to understand how they can apply the sanitation rules for their processing area or for their farm. They can do it also.

Yeah. And so when we're talking about sanitation, so we did a project where we evaluated the sanitation for our calves specifically, because sometimes if if we're not using hot enough water or cold enough water because depending on to, like, break down proteins and fat cells, for example Yeah. You need an acid that's able to just that cell wall. And like you were saying, to clean it because if not, the the fat cell can build up and then you just have organic matter throughout the entire system. But, you know, like Goosen had mentioned, monitoring temperature and pH can also help you assess whether your detergents or your sanitation protocol are actually working as effectively Yeah.

As they

Yeah.

And you can use so I actually have an ATP meter which just measures Yeah. Organic matter. Yeah. And it's the reflection of light through the organic matter. So if we have, like, a plastic surface and it's got a nice layer of organic matter on it, it's gonna let less light through it.

And so that's what that ATP meter is measuring. But then pH is really important. Wet and especially in Maine because what we have hard water. Yes. Mineral water.

So it alters, yeah.

And then it makes it with your Yep. With your detergent. Dilutions.

Yeah. It'll actually prevent it from being able To clean up your to work effectively. And so that's where this pH measure can potentially come in Yeah. And help you assess. Yeah.

The acid is from, you know, one to six. And then if it's a basic solution Yeah. It's from seven to 12. That's why temperature and pH is important.

Especially food industry, especially like the milky and meat industry, you should be really careful about how you sanitize your processing area or equipment, because milk is one of the hardest like, milking industry is like one of the hardest place to clean up because milk is very complicated. It has like so many minerals, like pH is important. It has like fat tissue and carbohydrates. So when you clean up, you can sanitize, get rid of the bacteria, but also we have like, what we call like, mickey stones and everything because of the calcium deposition. And it's important that detergent that you are using effectively cleans up the surface area, like that you are cleaning all the fats and the proteins stick on the surfaces.

And pH and the temperature of the water is very important. Sometimes you have to use alcohol detergent. Sometimes you have to use acid detergent. And there are so many options in the industry that specialize on the milk areas or the milking areas. And

there's really good protocols too.

SSOPs, as I talk about SSOPs, also like cleaning is an integral part of the GMPs and SSOPs. So please make sure that even though it's like daily routine, even though it looks like very easy, just have like written instruction for your cleaning procedure. For example, if you are using like alkali detergent or acid detergent or like quaternary ammonium compounds, you know? So make sure like how much detergent you have to mix with the water and then what should be like the water temperature. So the ratio is important.

Water temperature is important. How much, or like how long you have to apply for the surfaces? So these are like small details, but at the end, it all makes sense. Like you have to apply like very precise, like the written instructions, how you up your surface area. And then like the temperatures, like contact times, are all important.

And it's also important that you are using like stainless steel surfaces. In the past.

Like

Right.

Stainless steel allows us to have the least growth. So plastic and silicone is a great

way. Because like, if you have, like, for example, if you are like dealing with the milk, if you're like producing, like the cheese and like yogurt and everything, people know how hard it is to clean up like the milking Because the fat, proteins and carbohydrates, they all tend to stick on the surfaces. So you may kill the bacteria, but you may not be able to remove this sticky or organic matter from the surface. This organic matter, if you don't clean up properly, then they will start building up. Once the first layer building up and then bacteria will go and hide underneath.

And then they will produce biofilm, which is like little bit stick layer. And it's going to be like too hard to remove this surface, this layer from the surfaces. So it's important. That's the reason why it

is important Stainless steel.

To stand still and then to make sure that you are following up your detergents protocols. You know, like every detergents has like the very good labels on it. Just read it very carefully. Because it gives you like the directions, like how much you are going to mix with water. What should be the water temperature?

What should be the pH? As you mentioned, like this ATP measurements, like really good, you can measure like organic matter, how much organic matter you have, even though you clean up the surfaces. So food industry utilize this kind of like rapid detection or like rapid identification methods, like ATP meters to make sure that the surfaces or areas are clean, even though you think that you clean that area, So as you this is like, at the end, it comes to the

food safety. Yeah. So thank you so much, Goussin. This was such a fun conversation. I'm learning from you.

We'd love to have you back to talk Yeah. More about your other programs because we scratched the surface on some of the work that you're doing. I'm gonna leave in the show notes your email so folks can contact you and follow-up with you if they'd like. And then look forward to Goosen's programs as she offers them throughout the year. And with that, thank you so much, Goosen.

Yes. Yeah.

So thank you. It was very fun. Yeah.

Thank you for having me. Yeah. Awesome. So for our listeners, if you have future topics, suggestions, comments, or questions, please email us at extension.farmcast@maine.edu.