Help with TVC Limits

Hi all,

I need help with setting up TVC limits for Microbiological testing of our products. ours is ready to eat chilled desserts which contain dairy, egg and fruits or chocolate. we have kept 500 cfu/g as our target for both start and end of shelf life for these desserts.

I understand industry standard limit is <10⁵  for dairy based desserts. we test yeasts and moulds as part of shelf life testing along with TVC and the biggest problem we have is yeasts and moulds so far. my question is this.

If i scrap my existing limit of 500cfu/g and change it to 10⁵ for TVC, whilst testing other pathogens and yeasts and moulds, will it be justifiable?. I am concerned with the type of TVC and if this big leap is acceptable by auditors and food industry in general. 

Regards

Sam

Hi all,

 

I need help with setting up TVC limits for Microbiological testing of our products. ours is ready to eat chilled desserts which contain dairy, egg and fruits or chocolate. we have kept 500 cfu/g as our target for both start and end of shelf life for these desserts.

 

I understand industry standard limit is <10⁵  for dairy based desserts. we test yeasts and moulds as part of shelf life testing along with TVC and the biggest problem we have is yeasts and moulds so far. my question is this.

 

If i scrap my existing limit of 500cfu/g and change it to 10⁵ for TVC, whilst testing other pathogens and yeasts and moulds, will it be justifiable?. I am concerned with the type of TVC and if this big leap is acceptable by auditors and food industry in general. 

 

Regards

Sam

Hi Sam,

The 500 cfu/g is a curious number. Where did it come from ?

afaik the usual micro.reference for RTE/UK products is the HPA Guidelines which I anticipate you are already familiar with ?.

Unfortunately afaik there are no specific UK guidelines for Y&M although IIRC data elsewhere exists.