Salmonella - on a 10g sample?!?

Hi All.

I am having a conversation with a fellow foody, who reckons that legislation states that salmonella testing on raw sausages should be presence/absence in 10g rather than 25g like everything else.

She is adament that this is the case, but I can't imagine it being so. Why on earth would they use a smaller sample to determine presence or absence of a mega-bug like salmonella???

Of course, I might be wrong, but I really can't see it.

Anyone???

Pops

Dear poppy,

It's a wide universe.

Some people (and authorities also I think) use 50g to increase the detection probability.

similarly, some people use much less than 1ml aliquots for TPC measurements when they know the result is going to be high.

These suggest possible reasons for 10g

The proof of the pudding ........reference.

Rgds / Charles.C

Thanks, Charles.

I now have a spare 5 mins to look into this - only to discover she is right! Damn it!

In Commission Regulation (EC)2073:2005, incorporating 1441:2007, it does state absence in 10g for Minced meat and meat preparations made from other species than poultry intended to be eaten cooked.

Gah!