2.5 Microbiological sampling and testing

Found in:

Quality Assured Pork / Sourcing and receiving raw materials

2.5.1 The site shall have a standard operating procedure and testing schedule that details the frequency, scope and action limits for the microbiological testing of all incoming pork raw material.

2.5.2 The charter participant shall have undertaken a risk assessment to justify the frequency of microbiological sampling.

2.5.3 The microbiological condition of incoming pork shall be monitored with respect to the following criteria:

	Target	Upper Action Limit
Aerobic colony count (ACC)	<1 x 10⁴cfu/g	1 x 10⁶cfu/g

2.5.4 Where microbiological results above this limit are found, there shall be evidence that these are subject to trend analysis and, where ongoing issues are highlighted, that root cause and corrective action has taken place.

Guidance

The testing schedule shall relate to the number of suppliers (including those transferred between sites of the same company) and the volume of material and the range of cuts being processed.

Evidence

Review of the following:

2.5.1 Testing schedule.

2.5.2 Copy of risk assessment.

2.5.4 Examples of microbiological reports since the last audit and trend analysis and where applicable root cause and corrective action reports.