One of my favorite types of testing programs is a well-designed environmental monitoring program. Why? It is generally the closest thing in our food safety plans that resembles a true surveillance program. EMPs are built around routinely monitoring our environments to see when and where risks may be increasing, where sanitation is failing and how traffic patterns in the facility may be spreading things, etc. Importantly, unlike many of our other testing programs, EMPs are often unique in that they are intentionally designed to be like a radar system, providing us early insight into increasing risk.  

Environmental monitoring is a critical and nuanced field that deserves lingering on and discussing how we can squeeze even more value from the effort (and dollars!).  

So, how do we augment these testing efforts into the strongest predictive and proactive defense tool in our toolbox? 

Going Beyond Swab Counts and Zoning 

We generally think about testing for Listeria species (more here to learn about Listeria) when we chat about EMPs. But EMPs really should include far more – in some cases, operations might need to consider Salmonella (more here on this bacterium) or other indicators/pathogens relevant to your product. If you consider recent food safety headlines, infant formula companies should likely think about including Cronobacter sakazakii and spore-formers like Clostridium botulinum.  Point being, relevant organisms and indicators need to be assessed for every plant, product, and situation. All in all, it is not as simple as just designing a system looking for Listeria.  

How to start? Think about the product you are packing, recalls/outbreaks this item has seen, the inside and outside environment where you process/pack/store goods. Then brainstorm with your team (operations, food safety, sanitation, facility management) on what you should look for and the conditions you should surveil. Make sure to include all your colleagues (and day, night, swing shifts) and their respective expertise – every facet of a plant and area is known intimately by someone. Ask around, little clues are often found in anecdotal comments.  Did you know that at 2 am a truck pulls up next door to move manure? You should. Who knows it? The night facility manager that watches them from their office window. 

Next, what crops, businesses and operations are around your site? What means of air intrusion do you have? Do you know where condensation builds in your facility, and why? Is your production area subject to lots of dust? Perhaps when the neighboring fields harvest, work the land, maintain weeds/vegetation, move manure, move animals, turn compost piles – get the picture? Is your EMP plan noting these, overlaying these activities with your swabbing numbers and site selection? If not, let’s chat. 

Hint, doing the same number of swabs/sponges and sampling at the same time, day, site is not a robust or adaptive plan. Focus on adaptive – EMPs need to change as conditions do in order to deliver maximum protection and information. Don’t be afraid to increase and decrease, the number of swabs you do as the information informs you. The concept, and enormous value, of EMPs is worth taking the time to really drill into the details. Once thing is clear, moving beyond the concept of zones (a good summary here on those and general EMP) and really thinking about how we can drive more into our radar system is good business and food safety strategy.  

Many (but still not all) food safety personnel have been trained on EMP.  Certainly, not everyone has sat down to critically evaluate EMPs and ensure that along with the testing sites, frequency, etc. that the program is considering and collecting the other pieces of environmental monitoring that will level up your EMP overall.  

It is still all too common to see woefully inadequate EMPs and these underpowered programs are unrealized opportunities to improve and protect consumers and your businesses. In the upcoming months WG will be adding more context and content to leveling up EMP for strategies around added value, cultivating EMP data for predictive power, and offering training on basic and advanced elements of EMP for your workforce. Reach out and join the movement and conversation!