Frequently-asked questions about the database

Database Frequently-Asked Questions:

You can ask your question by clicking here

Q: In August 2005, the example plant and the summary screen (shown when you first login) began showing Salmonella results, why?

A: There is new legislation currently scheduled for implementation in January 2006. The legislation means that plants will need to start Salmonella testing and these results will need to be presented periodically in an appropriate format to plant OVSs. As before, the site "knows" the rules that the MHS will use to evaluate Salmonella test results and can generate reports in an appropriate format.

Q: What are these new Salmonella rules?

A: for red meat and poultry meat plants each sampling group will be 50 samples. These 50 samples come from 10 consecutive sampling sessions (with 5 carcass samples per session) and sampling sessions are weekly. These 50 samples "roll" i.e. samples from week 1 drop off at week 11. The assessment criteria that will be used are:

More than 2/50 for cattle/sheep are unacceptable, more than 5/50 for pigs are unacceptable and more than 7/50 for broilers and turkeys are unacceptable.

Q: What happens if my results are worse than everyone else's?

A: The site is not for enforcement and your OVS can't access your data unless you give him/her your password. The site exists for research purposes. The site may be able to tell us what the actual effect of implementing HACCP into all the meat plants in the UK was. In particular if there was any reduction at all in the national bacterial levels in plants as a result of the HACCP regulations. A benefit of the site for those plant operators who are kindly donating their microbiological test results, is easy access to powerful tools that lets them easily compare their plant hygiene changes over time and to undertake trend analysis. The charts generated by the site are in a format that is appropriate for presentation to your OVS. It is unlikely that your OVS would refuse to accept any graphs printed from this website because they meet all of the criteria specified by the FSA and the MHS. The FSA have asked us to point out however that your OVS is under no obligation to accept graphs from the site. The final decision lies with the plant OVS (as usual!).

It should always be kept in mind that it may not be appropriate to directly compare an individual plant's data with the national dataset because different laboratories analyse samples in different ways and can therefore potentially generate slightly different bacterial counts from identical samples. If you do have concerns that your plant is not as hygienic as you might like, speak with your OVS. In addition to enforcing HACCP regulations, your OVS has been specifically asked to help advise you on cost effective ways of lowering bacterial counts on carcases thereby producing better quality meat with improved shelf life from your plant.

Q: The site seems quite complex, is training available that explains what the various graphs mean and which ones should be used?

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Q: Is there an instruction manual for this site?

A: Discussions between the FSA and industry representatives from the BMPA and AIMS resulted in a request that a proper manual was written for version 1 of the database. The manual was written, although its a bit out of date now. It is available by clicking here. Its a large download of approx 1.2 MB (10 minutes on a dialup connection). In addition, there may also be a workshop or one-to-one mentoring that plant operators can attend or request a visit and receive hands-on training and discuss what functionality the industry would like to see added.

Q: When will passwords for plants be available?

A: Passwords for individual plants are available now from Dawn Harrison. For security purposes, passwords are only sent out by surface mail. Although plant reports and national comparisons are fully functional, there is still work ongoing to ensure that the site is fully secure and continues to resist the steady number of not very sophisticated malicious attacks that it is currently receiving.

Q: I have two years worth of data, its a huge job to enter all those old results

A: Plant operators currently have a choice for getting their data into the site. Until the end of December 2006, the Food Standards Agency are paying all data entry costs for plant operators. If you want to take advantage of this arrangement please contact Dawn Harrison who will arrange for a courier to call at your plant and collect your lab reports (which will be photocopied and returned to you within 48 hours). We can also accept electronic copies of your results (spreadsheets, PDFs etc).

After December 2008, plants will be encouraged to enter their own data.

Q: How do I know that the information I enter is secure and no one else can see my results?

A: The site has undergone extensive independent testing to check that it is secure. Every single web page in the site checks before it loads up that a valid username and password was supplied at the start of the session. In addition, as pages load, checks are made to ensure the directing page is internal. Since the site supports multiple simultaneously-logged in users, extensive tests have also been done to ensure that data isn't mixed up between different logins. On Saturday July 10th 2004, the site successfully handled 37 users logged in from different locations around the UK and the USA at the same time without mixing up different plants' data. Provision was made when the site was put together for 50 active logins; the error messages for the 51st login have also been tested to make sure the site doesn't crash. In the unlikely event of an error, custom interception routines are activated which terminate the secure session and automatically email the site creators with details of the problem. The database and the web site are stored on different computers in physically distant locations so that if the web site is ever hacked, plant data is still not accessible. The database computer will only give up its data to a very small number of computers that can identify themselves in a very precise way.

Q: When I print my graphs off they get split across two pages, how can I fit one graph on one page?
A: If you put your mouse on top of the graph you want to print and click the right hand mouse button, a menu will appear that includes an option for you to "Print Picture". Selecting this will print a single graph onto a single page. You may also find it easier to fit graphs onto A4 pages if you change the page orientation from "portrait" to "landscape".

Q: There is something strange going on with the national summary weekly carcase banding reports. For some weeks there are a number of unacceptable "red" carcases, but these sometimes disappear when the charts are checked a few weeks later?
A: The national summary weekly carcase banding reports calculate the percentage carcases in each hygiene band for each week. To prevent the chart showing numbers such as 23.6666666666, the numbers displayed on each chart are rounded down to the nearest whole number. Consider the following scenario. For a certain week for pigs, say there are 50 carcasses in the database. If two of these carcases have unacceptable Enterobacteriaceae numbers on them, then the chart will show 2/50x100 = 4% carcasses as unacceptable. Now roll the clock forward a few weeks. During this time more pig carcase results have been added. Say there are now 205 carcases for the week we are following. Imagine all of these carcasses were acceptable or marginal. The two unacceptable carcases now represent 2/205*100 = 0.97% unacceptable. 0.97% will be rounded down to zero and thus the chart will show no longer show any unacceptable pig carcases. They haven't really disappeared, they just represent such a low percentage that they are no longer displayed. The situation described above only really happens when there are a few carcasses in the database for a particular week (i.e. it should only ever happen for recent dates).

Q2: Can't you show on the diagram then how many carcases are in the database for each week so people can make an assessment as to the reliability of the data shown?

A2: Early versions of the diagram had this information on. However, there were complaints from the testing panel that having the percentages as well as the numbers of carcases made the diagram cluttered and difficult to interpret. People got confused as to what was the percentage and what was the number of carcases. After discussions it was felt most useful to put the percentages only on the chart. We are reluctant to restore the carcase numbers used to calculate the percentages because they may confuse people.

If the industry would find it useful, summary tables could be generated for each week showing the numbers of carcases for each species in the database. If enough people request it, we'll include this functionality. Please send a message to Dawn Harrison, and as soon as we get 5 requests, it'll happen.