Tuesday, 20 January 2026
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published Guidance Note 45 on Environmental Monitoring of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Food Business Operations. Guidance Note 45 aims to support ready-to-eat food businesses in meeting their legal requirements to sample the processing area and equipment for L. monocytogenes by implementing an L. monocytogenes environmental monitoring programme under the food business’ food safety management system.
The purpose of a L. monocytogenes environmental monitoring programme is to detect, investigate, manage and/or eliminate potential sources of L. monocytogenes in the environment of the food business, in order to minimise the risk of cross-contamination to ready-to-eat food products. Controlling L. monocytogenes is essential at all stages of the food production process.
While Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 specifies the processing area and equipment must be sampled for L. monocytogenes in ready-to-eat food business operations, it does not provide a microbiological criterion to assess the test results, nor does it provide information on what actions to take when L. monocytogenes is detected in the food business operation’s environment. The Guidance Note provides best practice advice to food businesses on how to develop a robust L. monocytogenes environmental monitoring programme, including recommended actions to be taken in the event of a detection.
The Guidance Note provides recommendations on:
- How to develop a risk-based approach to determine which locations should be swabbed in order to monitor the presence of L. monocytogenes in the environment of the food business operation
- When and how frequently these locations should be swabbed
- How the test results should be interpreted
- What actions to take in the event of L. monocytogenes being detected
To further complement the publication of this new Guidance Note, the FSAI is planning to host a Breakfast Bite webinar in the coming months. The Breakfast Bite will further explain how food businesses can implement and maintain the best practice advice provided in the new Guidance Note in order to minimise the risk of L. monocytogenes contamination to ready-to-eat food products. Please subscribe to our event alerts to be notified when the Breakfast Bite webinar launches.
Guidance Note 45 on Environmental Monitoring of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Food Business Operations
Notes:
Under Article 5.2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005, “Food business operators manufacturing ready-to-eat foods, which may pose a Listeria monocytogenes risk for public health, shall sample the processing area and equipment for Listeria monocytogenes as part of their sampling scheme”.
The challenges associated with controlling L. monocytogenes are significant, given its widespread presence; its high resistance to heat, salt, and acidic pH; and its capacity to grow and survive at or below standard refrigeration temperatures (Food Safety Authority of Ireland, 2011). The L. monocytogenes environmental monitoring programme should ensure that the control measures implemented by the food business operator are optimised in order to minimise the transfer of L. monocytogenes from the processing environment to ready-to-eat food products. Furthermore, the L. monocytogenes environmental monitoring programme provides information to identify and prevent harbourage sites and growth niches in the food business operation’s environment that may allow L. monocytogenes strains to persistently survive and grow, thereby acting as a potential source of cross-contamination for ready-to-eat food products.
