13 replies to this topic

[SQF-123]

Hi guys, I've looked online and within the forum no luck. I'm wondering if anyone here knows the acceptable limits for APC/ACC on food contact surfaces, in Canada. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

[Charles.C]

Hi guys, I've looked online and within the forum no luck. I'm wondering if anyone here knows the acceptable limits for APC/ACC on food contact surfaces, in Canada. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Sticking my neck out, I doubt they officially exist. IIRC, I have seen some for British Columbia (BC).

 

Internationally can see -

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...ces/#entry60958

 

PS : seems that APC = ACC ?

 

PPS :  BC article (2011) attached

 

 BC micro limits.pdf   82.63KB   64 downloads

 

(see Pg 10, these are quite/very demanding APC values)

(seems not mentioned but I anticipate these surface limits relate to a cleaned/sanitized surface)

[Scampi]

if you're asking if CFIA has limits, no they do not

Are you federally or provincially inspected, and which province/territory please

[FSQA MKE]

You must create your own and determine these values.

Is this for a RTE product?

[olenazh]

IMHO, APCs for surfaces are useless as they don't actually demonstrate what kind of pathogens are there (there could be aerobic bacteria and facultative ones growing with/without oxygen presence). Why don't you just swab for Listeria? Especially, under the light of Listeria regulation, and CFIA is quite attentive to this matter since 2008 outbreak.

[SQF-123]

if you're asking if CFIA has limits, no they do not

Are you federally or provincially inspected, and which province/territory please

Yeah, I figured I would have found them by now. I'm located in Ontario.

[SQF-123]

You must create your own and determine these values.

Is this for a RTE product?

Do you know how you go about doing this?

 

Yes it is considered RTE.

[SQF-123]

IMHO, APCs for surfaces are useless as they don't actually demonstrate what kind of pathogens are there (there could be aerobic bacteria and facultative ones growing with/without oxygen presence). Why don't you just swab for Listeria? Especially, under the light of Listeria regulation, and CFIA is quite attentive to this matter since 2008 outbreak.

 

This is what we were doing previously. However, this is now a requirement from a customer to swab for ACC/APC on food contact surfaces as opposed to listeria or salmonella (they are swabbed for within the other zones in our program).

[SQF-123]

Sticking my neck out, I doubt they officially exist. IIRC, I have seen some for British Columbia (BC).

 

Internationally can see -

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...ces/#entry60958

 

PS : seems that APC = ACC ?

 

PPS :  BC article (2011) attached

 

BC micro limits.pdf

 

(see Pg 10, these are quite/very demanding APC values)

(seems not mentioned but I anticipate these surface limits relate to a cleaned/sanitized surface)

Yes they can be used interchangeably.

 

Thanks for linking your prior discussion, I have looked at it previously and was just reaching out to see if there was any Canada/Ontario specific documentation, just to make sure I wasnt missing it anywhere online. However, the article will be good to reference if I cannot find anything specific to Ontario.

[FSQA MKE]

Do you know how you go about doing this?

Yes it is considered RTE.

Swab the surface, & send out the sample to the lab. You will have to determine what is your baseline acceptable values based on repeated tests. The customer is probably ignorant to what constitutes an acceptable/unacceptable APC reading and is placing the responsibility on your company. Ultimately APC doesn't say much. It's basically an indicator of an indicator, so whatever reading you get isn't going to say much, similar to an ATP test. There's no clear relationship between APC and listeria presence. Your customer just wants you to swab food contact surface.

[Scampi]

sqf-123 you don't ship inter provincially at all?  or export?

[SQF-123]

sqf-123 you don't ship inter provincially at all?  or export?

All within the province.

[Scampi]

ah, so you're inspected by OMFRA.

 

There is lots of really good guidance provided by them, and you're much more likely to get a helping hand than with CFIA

 

http://www.omafra.go...etyprograms.htm

http://www.omafra.go...rchprogram.html

[kfromNE]

Not sure about Canada, but in the US we can use other reputable countries' food safety info. Australia/New Zealand does have guidance for micro limits on different items.