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Guidance Note 3 Guidelines for the Interpretation of Results of Microbiological Testing of Ready-to-Eat Foods Placed on the Market

Tuesday, 02 November 2021

FSAI Guidelines on the testing of ready-to-eat Foods on the Irish market.

This document provides guideline microbiological limits for ready-to-eat foods placed on the market. These guideline limits can be used if legal microbiological criteria do not exist for a particular combination of food and microorganism.

This Guidance Note can be used by food business operators, enforcement officers, and laboratories performing microbiological testing on ready-to-eat foods.

Food business operators may also use the limits presented in this Guidance Note when they are carrying out testing as a means to validate or verify that their procedures based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) and good hygiene practice (GHP) are working effectively.