Listeria innocua found in almonds – what to do?]
Hi I'm QC supervisor in an almond plant, we sent some samples of raw almonds to an outside lab and they came positive for listeria innocua. what should be the next step in this? I know listeria innoua it is not pathogenic, but the product should be released? right now the product is on hold. thanks
Not your lawyer here, so can't tell you what the right decision is.
Listeria innocua is not considered a pathogen, so your product is not rendered adulterated by it's presence, however it is an indicator that you have residual soil contamination on the raw almonds. If they're going to be roasted downstream in the supply chain the risk is likely low, but frankly I would be nervous that there is some L. mono somewhere in that lot since the genus was present.
If you wanted to conduct follow up sampling with some statistical science behind it, you can get a copy of microorganisms in foods 7, which has investigation sampling schemes outlined for further examination. The number of additional samples you collect depends on the nature of the contamination and your desired level of confidence.
Hi I'm QC supervisor in an almond plant, we sent some samples of raw almonds to an outside lab and they came positive for listeria innocua. what should be the next step in this? I know listeria innoua it is not pathogenic, but the product should be released? right now the product is on hold. thanks
Not sure what you are actually doing. Roasting ?
This is one reason why (a) you need to know if Regulatory factors exist, (b) you should have an agreed "Product" Specification with yr customer.
If this was a sample direct from the "field" it likely contains a vast variety of microbiological species. Quite likely including L.monocytogenes and Salmonella.
IIRC there are several GMA-published detailed documents on Almond processing/roasting which are attached (somewhere) on this Forum.
we sell these product as "for further processing" so these would be roasted, blanched or pasteurized. Thanks.