7 replies to this topic

[lisiegirl]

I feel like I have read a ton of messages on here about environmental monitoring, but I still have one question....how do I know what I should be testing for? We make rigid plastic food containers and currently test just for salmonella. The auditor asked me how we chose that, but unfortunately my predecessor is no longer here and this was implemented before my time. Is testing for salmonella enough? Should we be testing for listeria, e. coli, etc? We have never had a positive test result for salmonella, but again, should we be testing our surfaces for something else? Again, we do not make food ingredients....only packaging. Thanks.

 

[olenazh]

That was a good question from your auditor "why you test packaging surfaces for certain bacteria"! I've personally never had this question from my auditors/inspectors. You may search for scientific information regarding bacterial growing on dry surfaces - though, from my experience swabbing packaging for E. Coli and Listeria, the results have always been negative due to the fact that bacteria don't survive on dry surfaces. Say, for equipment - it's different as it might be wet with water, products residue or other liquid stuff which is potential for bacteria growth.

[lisiegirl]

That was a good question from your auditor "why you test packaging surfaces for certain bacteria"! I've personally never had this question from my auditors/inspectors. You may search for scientific information regarding bacterial growing on dry surfaces - though, from my experience swabbing packaging for E. Coli and Listeria, the results have always been negative due to the fact that bacteria don't survive on dry surfaces. Say, for equipment - it's different as it might be wet with water, products residue or other liquid stuff which is potential for bacteria growth.

 

We do test other surfaces in the plant such as tier sheets, conveyors, pack tables, etc, but again, only for salmonella. Is there an industry standard on what we should be testing for?

[olenazh]

As per Listeria Policy, Health Canada, we test surfaces for Listeria m. Not sure about US regulations, sorry.

[Charles.C]

We do test other surfaces in the plant such as tier sheets, conveyors, pack tables, etc, but again, only for salmonella. Is there an industry standard on what we should be testing for?

Simple answer to above is almost certainly, Globally, No.

Logical answer is to do a risk assessment for your own situation.

Convenience (auditorial) answer is to study the scope/requirements for your related (unknown) Standard.

 

QED.?

[AJL]

I used the food authority website to work out if I needed to test for listeria. They had a series of questions you had to answer, where toward the end it gave you a yes/no with regarding whether or not listeria was a requirement.
You might find that it isn't actually relevant to test at all. Look into it, no point in doing irrelevant testing.
☺️

[EagleEye]

Hi lisiegirl,

 

Like Charles said, assess your own situation.

Where your product end up? What are the things packed in it? does any of your customer specifically need this?

Edited by EagleEye, 05 September 2022 - 04:52 AM.

[MOURADTALBI]

Hi lisiegirl, 

You have to perform a  risk assesment and define  what are the targeted germs.