1. Employee Training for Listeria Control of RTE Seafood
Smoked Fish
Crabmeat
Crawfish

2. Taking the Hysteria Out of Employee Training
Basic training on Listeria for all Employees
Training for Workers in Finished Product Areas
Specific Training for Cleaning and Sanitation Personnel

3. Tailor Training to Meet Your Needs
Suggestion – Conduct all training “on the job” or “on location”
Basic Training on Listeria – provide to all employees in large group
Listeria Controls in Finished Product Areas – conduct training in small groups of 5 – 10 workers
Cleaning and Sanitation – Conduct training with the 3-4 workers who have this job function in each area of the plant.

4. Training Approach and Format
Approach: In-plant training conducted by Plant Personnel
Format: PowerPoint Presentations, handouts,and demonstrations
Key: Tailor the training to meet specific needs of your plant

5. Listeria Controls for RTE Seafood
What is Listeria?
Why are we concerned about Listeria?
Where is Listeria found?
What can I do as an employee of a smoked fish, crab or crawfish processing plant?
This is the first slide in the basic training on Listeria, basic employee hygiene, and hand washing for ALL employees.
________________________
Use this slide to introduce yourself and the training program.
Explain that your company is making changes to deal with this new problem.
Use the team concept if appropriate – company and employees must work together.
Outline what your company is doing to address this problem: For example – new construction, new equipment, new sanitation supplier/supplies, screening suppliers of raw products, changes in product flow in the plant etc.
Describe the purpose of this training – For example: To remind all employees what they need to do to minimize this problem.
Describe what will be covered:
What Listeria is and why it’s important.
Company expectations for personal hygiene, good food handling practices and hand washing.

6. Basic Training on Listeria
Introduction to Listeria
Potential impacts on consumers and companies
Risk assessment and regulations
Review company procedures for personal hygiene and food handling
Company Hand Washing Requirements

7. Listeria Controls in Finished Product (Higher Risk) Areas
Preventing Cross Contamination
This is the first slide in the second training program for employees who work in exposed finished product areas.
________________________________________
Use this slide to introduce yourself, the training program, and why training is important.
You may want to remind the employees in this training program about the general program on Listeria Controls for all employees that they’ve already attended. You could review some of the key points on what Listeria is and why it’s important and why good personal hygiene and food handling practices are important. Refer back to first training slide set if necessary to review important points.
Before starting this program you should decide whether or not you want to conduct any demonstrations or any group activities. If you want to conduct the activity that uses Glo-Germ or some other aid to demonstrate how cross contamination can occur and how bacteria can be easily transferred from one place to another you will need to set it up just before the training. You also need to think about how you want to demonstrate the “How To” sections of this training program such as how to clean work areas, how to clean and sanitize equipment before moving from raw to finished product areas etc. Depending on the number of people involved, it may be possible to conduct the entire training program in the work area or you may want to go through the slide set in one location and then go into the work area to conduct any demonstrations that are needed.

8. Training for workers in exposed finished products areas
What is Cross Contamination and how to prevent it.
Role of employee and equipment movement in the plant.
Importance of hand washing and sanitizing after touching/handling unsanitary objects.
Specific company policies and procedures.

9. Plant Cleaning and Sanitation to Control Listeria
This is the first slide in the training program for employees that conduct cleaning and sanitation in areas where exposed finished products are handled.
________________________________________
Goal = Training for all people who conduct cleaning and sanitizing tasks.
This lesson will be most effective if followed by hands-on training.
It is important to demonstrate the proper use of cleaning equipment and the proper sequence for cleaning and sanitizing. This can best be accomplished by actually demonstrating the procedures you use to employees in the location(s) where they are conducted.
Prior to conducting the training it is important to review your current cleaning and sanitizing procedures for each area of the plant. Any modifications or updates should be made before training so that employees will learn the proper procedures.
If there is a dedicated cleaning and sanitizing crew for the whole plant they would be trained in all procedures. If workers in specific areas of the plant clean and sanitize at the end of the day they need to be trained on those procedures they are responsible for.
The specific procedures that need to be covered in this training, at a minimum, are the ones described in the Year 2 Listeria control plan. Separate training may need to be conducted for employees in raw areas and employees in finished product areas.

10. Cleaning and Sanitizing in Exposed Finished Product Areas
Company procedures
Description and demonstration of specific company cleaning and sanitizing
Monitoring, reporting and problem solving.

11. Safe Food Depends on You
Four Training Modules with lessons
Video, and Posters available in both English and Spanish
Modules include:
Personal Hygiene
Temperature Control
Preventing Cross-Contamination
Cleaning and Sanitation

12. Safe Food Depends on You
Sample lesson/demonstration
Hand washing
Review how and when to wash hands.
See Lesson 1. Personal Hygiene (pg. 11)
Use additional activities described on page 13 to demonstrate effectiveness of company procedures.

13. Where Can I Find Training Resources?
Workshop Materials
Safe Food Depends On You
UC Davis web site Training Resources -
USDA/FDA Foodborne Illness Education Information Center

14. Listeria Control Manual for Smoked Fish
Listeria Control Strategies for RTE Seafood Products
How to obtain:
Handouts for workshop
USDA Ag Library
Cornell Sea Grant Program/website

15. Training is an ongoing process
Train all employees
At hire before they start work
At least once per year
Keep records of all training
Record date
Type of training

16. Adapt Training Programs for Your Facility
Use hands-on demos where ever possible and demonstrate actual procedures used in the plant.
Replace pictures in PowerPoint presentations with pictures and graphics from your plant.
Example – See XYZ Crawfish

17. FOOD INDUSTRY RULES TRAINING SESSION
XYZ Crawfish Plant, Their Town, USA
FOOD INDUSTRY RULES TRAINING SESSION
February, 2003

18. What is going on? Food borne illnesses are responsible:
People are getting seriously ill and dying from food borne illnesses
Food borne illnesses are responsible:
300,000 Hospital Cases/Year
5,000 Deaths/Year

19. What about our Crawfish Processing Industry?
What is going on?
Listeria

20. Listeria Controls for Crawfish Meat
What is Listeria?
Why are we concerned about Listeria?
What can I do as an employee of a crawfish processing plant?

21. What is it?
Listeria are invisible bacteria (germs) that can cause illness.
When people eat foods that contain one type, Listeria monocytogenes, it can cause:
Miscarriage in pregnant women
Brain infection and blood poisoning in babies, elderly people, and people with a weakened immune system.

22. Why do we have to worry about Listeria in our plant?
Crawfish tail meat is a “Ready-to- Eat” Food
that may NOT be cooked before it is eaten.
Normally, when we cook foods before we eat them any harmful bacteria like Listeria that might be present are killed during cooking.