According to the advice given in the Fish and Fisheries Products Hazards
Control Guide: Second Edition the critical control limit for refrigerated
storage of vacuum-packaged cooked crabmeat is a requirement that the
...product [is] not to be exposed to temperatures ≥ 50˚F for more than
twelve hours, cumulatively (or four hours at temperatures ≥ 70˚F )...
This advice assumes, however, that the product has already been pasteurized
in a manner adequate not merely to retard the growth of spoilage-causing
organisms, but also to killthe spores of C. botulinum types E, and
nonproteolytic B and F; the significant hazards now identified for this
product and process and meant to be controlled by the above-given limit are
the toxins produced by C. botulinum types A and proteolytic B.
The more stringent older control limit (storage below 37.9 deg F) of the
first edition of the Hazards Guide will presumably apply if C. botulinum
types E and nonproteolytic B and F are not among the target organisms of the
pasteurization process to which the producer has already subjected the
product. Thus it is critical for his customers to reliably ascertain the
particulars of the producer's processing operation.
Or do prevailing commercial practices and/or regulatory contraints
provide reasonable assurance that those botulism hazards that can be
eliminated or controlled by means of pasteurization have in fact been
targeted by the process design? Does the FDA in effect require domestic and
foreign producers of vacuum-packaged ready-to-eat crabmeat to target C.
botulinum types E and nonproteolytic B and F? Is there a reliable source of
information about the prevalence of the practice among processors?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Aug 30 2000 - 06:55:57 PDT