Micro specs for dry mixes

Hello

Looking for some advice on dry mixes and micro tolerances.

I appreciate that the inclusion of herbs and spices can put your micro count up, but was wondering what levels these should be set at.

I have looked here: www.culinaria-europe.eu/download/aiibp-micro-wg-dry-soup

This was quite useful, however below is one of the specs I am working with.

Ingredients:wheat product.semolina
salt
herbs and spices
rosemary ( Rosmarinus officinalis L.)
dried vegetables
garlic (Allium sativum L.)vegetable oilrapeseed oil

Bacteriological data:
Standard plate count : < 300.000 CFU/g
Yeasts : < 1.000 CFU/g
Moulds : < 1.000 CFU/g
Coliforms : < 100 CFU/g
Entero bactericeae : < 10.000 CFU/g
Lactobacillus : Absent
E. coli : < 10 CFU/g
Salmonella : Absent in 25 gram
Campylobacter : Absent in 25 gram
Staphylococcus aureus : < 300 CFU/g
Clostridium Perfringens : < 50 CFU/g
Bacillus cereus : < 5.000 CFU/g
Listeria monocytogenes : Absent in 25 gram

The ACC seems high, I dont know on the moulds and yeast, or coliforms, Entero seems high, Clostridium seems high,

Dear ads78,

"I appreciate that the inclusion of herbs and spices can put your micro count up, but was wondering what levels these should be set at"

Sterilised / heat treated / irradiated or not ??

Rgds / Charles.C

Dear Charles i think that these ingredients are ionized irradiated, read this statements from Directives 1999/2/EC and 1999/3/EC:
"Community Directives 1999/2/EC and 1999/3/EC provided a harmonised legal framework for the technical aspects for carrying out food irradiation, labelling of irradiated food and conditions for authorising food irradiation, and established a Community list of food and food ingredients which may be irradiated in all member states. This list contains one single food category relevant to dry soups and bouillons: dried aromatic herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings. National authorisations allowing irradiation of foods are maintained by Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK; some of these foods have relevance for use in dry soups and bouillons".
Regards,
Youssef

Untreated herbs hence the high micros. Heat treated will be the way to go but direction/ reference points etc would be useful....

Hi, ads78

Please see the attached document from NZ Food Administration.

it is the edition from 1995, looks a little bit old, but I couldn't find a more up to date one, so maybe this one is still in use.

Hope this can help you.

SZY

Dear SZY,

I see no attachment ?

@ads, for untreated herbs, IMO the plate count is low, not high, although it may well depend on the specifics.

(I think some micro. textbooks consider attaching micro limits to raw herbs/spices a waste of time, (eg try looking up some typical [black?] pepper values). This is why heat treatment etc is generally recommended.

Rgds / Charles.C