
Update of Food Authority Auditors Forum
In August, the Food Authority held an auditor’s forum for all TPA’s (Third Party Auditors), this is an opportunity for auditors to ask questions that have come up during the previous years’ audits.
One of the issued
discussed was the use of ready to eat (RTE) sliced meat by facilities and
whether a “use by” date applied to the product is an appropriate control (to
use before the use by date), for the food or whether the “7 days from packaging”
that people may have heard of is more appropriate.
The answer form the
Food Authority is to use the “7 days from packaging” control for RTE sliced
meats, this is to control any Listeria that may be present within the food and
due to the type of people that the food is being served to, for example,
vulnerable persons.
Listeria Monocytogenes (commonly referred to as Listeria) is bacteria that is present in the general environment
and may also be present in food manufacturing premises, the properties of
Listeria include: -
· Listeria is a facultative anaerobe, which means it can
grow under aerobic, (with oxygen), microaerobic and anaerobic (without oxygen),
conditions and in the presence of CO2 (carbon dioxide) – which means
it can grow in vacuum packaging;
· Listeria is Psychotrophic, which means it can grow at
temperatures of 40 C and lower, it can even grow at -10
C;
· Listeria can develop flagella for motility when grown
at 200 C to 250 C;
· Will typically grow in a pH range of 4.5 to
9.7;
· Is salt tolerant for growth up to 10% salt, (as
a comparison the ocean is approximately 3.8% salt), it can also survive in high
salt environments (16% salt) for up to 12 months;
· Can survive in environments with a low water
activity such as straw and soil;
· Listeria is a biofilm producer, this means that the
bacteria is difficult to dislodge during cleaning and provides a protection
against sanitisers for internal cells in the biofilm;
· Listeria has a growth “lag phase” (how long it takes to
start to grow/multiply), of 120 to 148 hours (approximately 6 days) – this is
the reason for the “7 days from packaging” precaution.
When it comes to the
mortality rate for Listeria, although
it is not a leading cause of foodborne illness, L. monocytogenes is among the leading causes of death form
foodborne illness, it is estimated: -
· There are 255 deaths in the U.S annually;
· The severe form of the infection has a
case-fatality rate of 15% to 30%;
· For Listerial meningitis this is 70%, for
septicaemia 70% and for perinatal/neonatal infections >80%;
With an onset time or
incubation period of between 3 days to 3 months, determining what has been
eaten when sick with Listeria is very
difficult. For food businesses serving food to vulnerable persons, there must
be adequate precautions in place, such as: -
· Only purchase RTE sliced meat from an approved
supplier with a Listeria management
program in place;
· Only accept high risk food into the business
that is at the correct temperature, has intact packaging and appropriate use
by/packed on dates;
· Only use RTE sliced meat within 7 days from
packaging.
*Some information taken from Food Authority publications regarding the control of Listeria Monocytogenes.
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