2.6 Microbiological testing

Found in:

Quality Assured Pork Sausages / Sourcing and receiving raw materials

2.6.1 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, including fat, bacon, dehydrated rind and natural casings.

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

2.6.3 The microbiological condition of raw pork material shall meet the following standard:

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

2.6.4 The microbiological condition of incoming bacon, dehydrated rind and natural casings shall meet the standards specified in the raw material specification held by the site.

2.6.5 Where microbiological results above these targets are found, there shall be evidence that these are subject to trend analysis and that where ongoing issues are highlighted that root cause has been established 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 the following:

2.6.1 Testing schedule
2.6.2 Copy of risk assessment.
2.6.3 Examples of microbiological reports since the last audit.
2.6.4 Check micro standards for compliance with raw material specifications
2.6.5 Trend analysis and where applicable root cause and corrective action reports.