Microbiological criteria are usually not suitable for monitoring the critical limits
defined in HACCP program. Monitoring procedures should be capable of detecting the
loss of control in terms of critical points and ensuring the timely provision of such
information for the use of correcting activities in order to restore control. Therefore,
the measurement of physical and chemical parameters (e.g., acidity, pH, water activity)
that can be carried out at enterprises in real time should be used instead of research on
the subject of compliance with the microbiological criteria.
Committee Regulations № 2073/2005 define the microbiological criteria for
certain pathogens in certain foodstuffs, but also establishe criteria for Listeria
monocytogenes to all ready-to-consume food. So, the food safety criteria are defined
in mince and semi-finished raw products (Salmonella); gelatin and collagen
(Salmonella); cheese, butter and sour cream, made from raw milk (Salmonella,
Staphylococcus – enterotoxin); dry milk and dry whey (Salmonella); ice cream, made
of milk (Salmonella); egg products (raw) (Salmonella); boiled crayfish and shellfish
(Salmonella); live bivalve shellfish and living echinoderms (Salmonella, E. coli); the
seedlings seeds (Salmonella); dry mixtures for babies and dry dietary foods for special
health care needs (for babies under 6 months) (Salmonella, Cromobacter); dry mixtures
for babies over the age of 4 months (Salmonella).
Criteria of hygiene processes are determined in mince (number of aerobic
colonies) pasteurized milk and pasteurized liquid dairy products (enterobakteria)
cheese made from milk or whey that has undergone heat treatment (E. coli); cheese
made from raw milk or milk treated thermally at temperatures below the temperature
of pasteurization (coagulase-positive staphylococci); butter and sour cream (E. coli);
dry milk and dry whey enterobakterìa and coagulase-positive staphylococci); ice cream
and frozen dairy desserts (enterobakteria); dry mixtures for babies over the age of 6
months and dry mixtures for babies over the age of 4 months supply (enterobakteria
and probable Bacillus cereus); egg products (enterobakterìa); chopped fruits and
vegetables (ready-to-consume) (E. coli); not a pasteurized fruit and vegetable juices
(ready-to-consume) (E. coli).
For the most of the criteria a certain type of food is specified. This does not
concern Listeria monocytogenes that can be connected with almost all ready-to-serve
products. Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen that is well tolerated with food and can
cause human diseases. Listeria monocytogenes is often met in the environment such as
soil, vegetation and animal excrements. The widespread distribution and increased in
comparison with other organisms ability to grow or survive in refrigerated
environments does Listeria monocytogenes a significant risk factor in the production
of food products, especially it concerns ready-to-use food that is not treated in the
process of production, as well as food that may be contaminated through the
environment, including the production environment, in the process of its producing.
- 1263 -