An Evaluation of the Role of Microbiological Criteria for Foods and Food Ingredients (1985) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 Definitions, Purposes, and Needs for Microbiological Criteria
2 Definitions, Purposes, and Needs for Microbiological Criteria
Pages 55-64
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 55... ...
In addition, the purposes and needs for microbiological criteria for foods and food ingredients in the United States are examined. Because controversy exists about the application of microbiological criteria as quality standards of foods, attributes of quality amenable to measurement by microbiological criteria also are examined.
|
From page 56... ...
The following definitions of these terms are recommended by the subcommittee for application by the food industry and governmental agencies in the United States and will be used throughout this report. Standard A microbiological standard is a microbiological criterion that is a part of a law, ordinance, or administrative regulation.
|
From page 57... ...
The Howard mold count limits as applied to tomato and certain fruit products are standards that were designed to minimize the amount of decayed raw produce that might be introduced into such foods. Although there is now an awareness that certain molds produce mycotoxins, the mold count standards (Defect Action Levels)
|
From page 58... ...
The criterion must accomplish its objective, i.e., adequately measure the contaminants of concern, be technically attainable under commercial conditions by Good Manufacturing Practices, and be administratively feasible. There are additional factors that should be considered before the need for a specific microbiological criterion can be established.
|
From page 59... ...
Industry quality control/assurance departments commonly establish microbiological limits, often based on many years of experience, that should be achievable in foods at critical control points or in the finished product if good manufacturing practices are observed. Results that exceed these limits serve to signal some divergence from accepted good manufacturing practices and may suggest remedial measures.
|
From page 60... ...
Codex microbiological criteria, however, are tied closely to Codex codes of hygienic practice and Codex concerns are with international commerce, while the mission of this subcommittee is to address the needs of governmental agencies and the food industry within the United States. The differences noted below stem from this fact.
|
From page 61... ...
This Codex document does not contain a definition of a microbiological specification as a limit to determine the acceptability of raw materials, ingredients, or foods in contractual agreement between two parties. ATTRIBUTES OF QUALITY AMENABLE TO MEASUREMENT BY MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA The term quality usually refers to the property, inherent nature, characteristic or attribute, or degree or grade of excellence of something.
|
From page 62... ...
For example, ground beef is likely to yield a high APC, but this may merely reflect the growth of harmless psychrotrophic bacteria during refrigerated storage. The relationship between the microbiology of a food and adherence to good manufacturing practices must be established by conducting repeated surveys of processing lines to obtain statistically valid data.
|
From page 63... ...
were that minimal standards would be maintained for foods prone to microbial growth or other quality defects, and that the microbial quality standards would promote honesty and fair dealing in the interest of the consumer. A difficulty with microbiological quality standards is that they are predicated on the basic assumption that quality varies inversely with numbers of microorganisms.
|
From page 64... ...
:33249-33253. 1980 Frozen fish sticks, frozen fish cakes, and frozen crab cakes; Recommended micro biological quality standards.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.