Help defining a master food sampling schedule

Dear All :

I want to make a food samples schedule, can you help me for make a master food samples schedule .

our food is ready to eat food and the raw food is kept in separate area in the store .

Thanks & Regards
Hygienic

Hello Hygienic,

If you are in Europe, start with the directive 2073/2005. This EU directive gives requirement for pathogen and hygiene testing for all kind of foods.

I want to make a food samples schedule, can you help me for make a master food samples schedule

You mean sampling?

If so, it "depends", eg what type of products / what you are sampling for / quantities involved ??

Rgds / Charles.C

You mean sampling?

If so, it "depends", eg what type of products / what you are sampling for / quantities involved ??

Rgds / Charles.C

It is for catering , I mean different types of food are available, ready to eat food , raw food ,etc.... I want to do 14 sample daily but I want to devide it according to each type of food , chilled meat (raw) , chicken, vegetables etc... and kitchen staff & worksurfaces as well.Can you help to creat a schedule accordingly.

Charles; I know it old post but good to reopen a discution again


Regards

Dear hygienic,

It usually comes back to risk assessment again.

It is usual to prioritise based on usage (eg RTE, non-RTE) / intrinsic product risk (think chicken )/ volumes-values

Obviously it is also necessary to decide the specifications required for the products (eg customer / legislatory)

Then you do some measurements.

This should usually indicate which items are well within spec., or vice-versa.

For example a product (especially RTE) which is found to show deviation from a standard and also represents a considerable volume and/or value is an immediate target to prioritise for sampling (not to forget the equally associated necessity to correct the deviation of course ).

The amount of sampling / analysing you can do depends on yr technical facilities.

IMEX 14 samples for full micro.analysis / day is a very large amount of work. I hope you hv a lot of analysts or continuous rotating shifts or some nice automated systems.

Rgds / Charles.C

Dear hygienic,

It usually comes back to risk assessment again.

It is usual to prioritise based on usage (eg RTE, non-RTE) / intrinsic product risk (think chicken )/ volumes-values

Obviously it is also necessary to decide the specifications required for the products (eg customer / legislatory)

Then you do some measurements.

This should usually indicate which items are well within spec., or vice-versa.

For example a product (especially RTE) which is found to show deviation from a standard and also represents a considerable volume and/or value is an immediate target to prioritise for sampling (not to forget the equally associated necessity to correct the deviation of course ).

The amount of sampling / analysing you can do depends on yr technical facilities.

IMEX 14 samples for full micro.analysis / day is a very large amount of work. I hope you hv a lot of analysts or continuous rotating shifts or some nice automated systems.

Rgds / Charles.C

Thanks Charles for such as these valuable information, and you are right it is according to the risk assessment , so I will give the priority to the RTE foods , that daily should take samples , but here I do not want to do all microbiological tests daily or togather , I mean can not do salmonella test or bacillus cereus test daily ,



Example; I have sandwitch and I want to do the micro tests for it , by schedule I want to make some specific tests for the said product , I mean can not do salmonella or Bacillus test daily , but TPC and E.coli are mandatory daily for any kind of products collected for the analysis , this why I want to make schedule to avoid the confusion.


what do you think Charles?..

I do not have a food microbiological analysis procedure in my place , do you think I need to fix a written procedure ?



Regards

Dear hygienic,

Example; I have sandwitch and I want to do the micro tests for it , by schedule I want to make some specific tests for the said product , I mean can not do salmonella or Bacillus test daily , but TPC and E.coli are mandatory daily for any kind of products collected for the analysis , this why I want to make schedule to avoid the confusion.

what do you think ?

It depends on the kind of queries i put in previous post, eg specifically what your products are, how much of them, why you are selecting the items you mention above to focus on, etc.

For example, to illustrate the width of the choice, I am guessing the most common basic set of internal factory lab. micro. measurements per sample is -

APC, coliform, (generic) E.coli, Staph.aureus coag+, Salmonella.

plus, depending on technical facilities / products / customer / legislation / etc, a few more may be done, eg Enterobacteriaceae, E.coli O157, L.monocytogenes, "vibrio" members, "bacillus" members, and others. many labs do not have the expertise or the wish to do many of the second group so prefer to send samples to external labs.

I hv visited some factories which are running up to 7 or 8 of the above parameters on more than 10 new samples every day. This creates a prodigious workload, especially if not using any rapid detection kits / systems. The primary reason is pure business, eg customer requirements for a full COA for every lot (day) code. Such a situation almost makes a nonsense of maintaining a haccp system IMO.

I do not have a food microbiological analysis procedure in my place , do you think I need to fix a written procedure ?

Yes, it is a prerequisite. Together with acquiring a food microbiologist. And maybe a lab.?
(I recall you hv previously sought guidance on where to find the procedures )

Rgds / Charles.C