Thursday, 08 January 2026
Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2895 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 as regards Listeria monocytogenes will be applicable from 1st July 2026. To support food businesses in demonstrating compliance with the amendment, the European Commission recently published an updated version of its GUIDANCE DOCUMENT on Listeria monocytogenes monitoring and shelf-life studies for ready-to-eat foods under Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of 15 November 2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs.
The guidance document is primarily directed at food business operators producing ready-to-eat foods and conducting related L. monocytogenes shelf-life studies in accordance with Article 3(2) and Annex II of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. It can also assist competent authorities conducting official controls on these food business operators and serve as a resource for third parties involved in developing L. monocytogenes shelf-life studies.
Currently, Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 does not establish a specific limit for L. monocytogenes in Category 1.2 ready-to-eat foods that are able to support the growth of L. monocytogenes if they are sampled after they have left the immediate control of the food business operator that produced them, and when the operator cannot demonstrate that the limit of 100 cfu/g will not be exceeded throughout the product's shelf life. To address this legislative gap, Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2895 extends the criterion limit of "L. monocytogenes not detected in 25 g" for "ready-to-eat foods able to support the growth of L. monocytogenes, other than those intended for infants and for special medical purposes” as laid down under food category 1.2 in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005.
Food businesses that produce ready-to-eat foods capable of supporting the growth of L. monocytogenes, and which do not undergo heat treatment or other processes capable of eliminating L. monocytogenes during production, must be able to demonstrate that their products will remain compliant with the requirements of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 throughout the shelf-life of the product. To support food business operators in understanding the growth behaviour of L. monocytogenes in the ready-to-eat foods they produce in order to set a safe shelf-life for their products, the new guidance document provides recommendations on how to:
- Classify and adequately label food products as ready-to-eat or non-ready-to-eat foods
- Determine which L. monocytogenes food safety criterion applies
- Decide on when and which shelf-life studies are needed with respect to L. monocytogenes
- Demonstrate that food products will comply with the L. monocytogenes criteria until the end of the shelf-life
- Validate, verify and document that such shelf-life studies are adequate to respect the applicable L. monocytogenes food safety criterion.
