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