Thursday, 18 September 2014
The Regulation sets legal microbiological criteria for certain foods.
This Guidance Note provides guidance for competent authorities on the enforcement of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs, and its corrections and amendments published up to 7 March 2014.
The aim of the Regulation is to enhance the safety of food and to facilitate fair trade by harmonising microbiological criteria that can be used to assess the acceptability of food. The Regulation sets requirements for:
- sampling frequency (how often foods should be sampled and tested)
- the analytical method to use when testing food
- interpreting test results
- action to take if test results are unsatisfactory
- analysing trends in test results
- conducting environmental monitoring
- labelling
- conducting studies to ensure compliance with relevant criteria throughout the shelf-life
Checklist to be used when assessing compliance with Commission Regulation EC (No) 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs (as amended).
