Guidance on the Practical Implementation of the EC Regulation on Microbiological Criteria for Foodstuffs

Guidance on the Practical Implementation of the EC Regulation on Microbiological Criteria for Foodstuffs

This guidance is intended to help food business operators (manufacturers and retailers) to understand the requirements of the Commission Regulation on Microbiological Criteria for Foodstuffs (‘the Regulation’), providing additional detail to that given in the Food Standards Agency’s own guidance documents.

The purpose of the Regulation is to protect public health and provide harmonised reference points for Food Business Operators (FBOs). It relates to the General Food Law (178/2002/EC) that obliges FBOs to withdraw or recall unsafe food from the market. It states that safety is ensured by a preventative approach such as employing good hygiene practices and use of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles.

This guidance assumes FBOs have working knowledge of this approach. The Regulation generally relates to finished manufactured foods and not to ingredients or raw materials used to manufacture that food. However, FBOs producing/supplying raw materials may be affected by the Regulation through the application of criteria and corrective actions required by their customers’ food safety management plans. With the exception of raw minced meat, meat preparations, certain meat products intended to be cooked and mechanically separated meat, the Regulation does not specify the frequency of sampling/testing, and it is for the FBO to decide the appropriate level of sampling/testing to help validate and verify their food safety management systems, e.g. HACCP.

This guidance document is separated into two parts:

Part A is an overview of the requirements of the Regulations.

Part B provides interpretation of Annex I (the microbiological criteria) for both food safety and process hygiene. The tables in this section are taken directly from the regulation and include relevant footnotes for clarity. The interpretations appear below the table in blue text.

The guidance has been prepared by the Chilled Food Association with support from: British Retail Consortium British Frozen Food Federation British Meat Processors Association Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association Food Standards Agency Health Protection Agency Provision Trade Federation This guidance will be updated as required in light of practical experience. 6 December 2006

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