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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Byron, Georgia » Fruit and Tree Nut Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411215
Research Project: Healthy, Sustainable Pecan Nut Production

Location: Fruit and Tree Nut Research

Title: Food Safety Needs Assessment for North American Pecan Shellers

Author
item Bardsley, Cameron
item ACUFF, JENNIFER - University Of Arkansas
item KANE, SHARON - University Of Georgia
item ARNOLD, NICOLE - The Ohio State University
item HAMILTON, ALEXIS - Virginia Tech
item DUNN, LAUREL - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Food Protection Trends
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/2024
Publication Date: 9/10/2024
Citation: Bardsley, C.A., Acuff, J., Kane, S.P., Arnold, N.L., Hamilton, A., Dunn, L.L. 2024. Food Safety Needs Assessment for North American Pecan Shellers. Food Protection Trends. Volume 44, Issue 5: Pages 336–343. https://doi.org/10.4315/FPT-23-036.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4315/FPT-23-036

Interpretive Summary: In order to prevent foodborne outbreaks from occurring, food producers need to maintain adequate food safety programs and implement effective controls. While the United States is the leading producer of pecans in the world, there is very little food safety guidance available for pecan shellers. A food safety survey was developed and distributed to pecan shellers to identify food safety practices in there operation. The results of this survey determined that the use of certain food safety practices such as implementing a food safety plan and using hot water or steam to treat in-shell pecans were dependent on the size of the shelling operation. Certain aspects such as effective sanitizers and post-shelling treatments were identified as potential avenues of future research. These results can lead to the development of targeted food safety resources for use by the pecan industry.

Technical Abstract: The United States is a leading producer of pecans globally. Despite a significant contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product, little food safety guidance currently exists for pecan shellers. This survey identified typical food safety practices for a sub-set of North American pecan shellers. A 24 question Qualtrics online survey was distributed to shellers directly or through Cooperative Extension, commodity group, or association avenues. Just over half of pecan shellers (n=23) had a food safety plan in place (56.5%; 13/23) and treated in-shell pecans with hot water or steam (56.5%; 13/23), but these practices tended to be associated with operation size. A majority of the shellers conditioned in-shell pecans in water (73.9%; 17/23) but the time varied between <1 hr. (50.0%, 8/16), 1-2 hrs. (6.3%; 1/16), 3-4 hrs. (12.5%; 2/16), and >4 hrs. (31.2%; 5/16). Of the shellers that condition in-shell pecans, 58.8% (10/17) reported using a sanitizer in the conditioning water. Chlorine-based sanitizers (chlorine dioxide, sodium hypochlorite, and calcium hypochlorite) were the most commonly used in conditioning water. Most shellers did not use a kill-step to treat pecan kernels (82.6%; 19/23). Findings from this survey can lead to the development of targeted food safety resources for use by the pecan industry.