Microbiological acceptable limit for hand swabs
haris vt
Bobby Krishna
The significance of food contact surfaces in food safety is highlighted in the Food Safety Act 19901 which states under section 29 (c) that authorised officers can “take a sample from any food source, or a sample of any contact material, which is found by him on or in any such premises”. This implies that environmental samples are to be considered as part of legislation. EU Legislation also states that “Sampling of the production and processing environment can be a useful tool to identify and prevent the presence of pathogenic micro- organisms in foodstuffs2, and cleanliness standards have also been laid down for meat premises in European Law3. A recommendation to undertake environmental monitoring of the food preparation environment during the investigation of poor microbiological results is also given in the HPA Guidelines for Assessing the Microbiological Safety of Ready to Eat Foods Placed on the Market4.
The environment can be contaminated with a variety of micro-organisms derived from various sources. Estimation of the overall numbers of bacteria (Aerobic Colony Count, E.coli and Enterobacteriaceae) present can provide useful information when assessing general hygiene. Environmental monitoring can also be used as part of routine inspections of food premises or in an investigation of a suspected food poisoning outbreak where surfaces are thought to be likely vehicles of cross-contamination or if no food is available for examination.
Determination of the number of aerobic viable micro-organisms and the number of Enterobacteriaceae on a specified area of a surface can provide an indication of the cleanliness and allows monitoring of cleaning procedures over time.
Detection of Listeria species in a food processing premises can be used as an indicator of poor cleaning. The presence of foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Campylobacter and E.coli O157 in a ready to eat food preparation area or retail setting is of particular concern.
The main value of determining the colony counts on a surface is to assess the cleanliness of that surface. If a swab is taken to demonstrate that procedures used for cleaning are effective, swabbing should be performed after the surface has been cleaned. If it is suspected that cleaning is not being done or the methods used for cleaning are not effective then swabbing can be done as part of a routine hygiene inspection without prior cleaning.
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Opinions expressed in this group by members are all personal unless it is not stated so. Requirements and Regulations from Dubai Municipality will be presented as a memo.
For information about food safety requirements in Dubai, visit www.foodsafe.ae
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muthalif
Hi Haris,
'Acceptable limit' is not existing for Hand swabs. You can use USAPHC's food safety action level for environment swabs collected from sanitised food contact surfaces.
TPC - 100 CFU per 50 Sq.Centimeter
Coliforms - 10 CFU per 50 Sq.Centimeter
Regards
Muthalif
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