Dear List,
In follow up to this issue, does anybody have the bacterial standard for canned low acid product for each market - USA, Canada, EU, Australia etc ? I know that the requirement is commercially sterile (referring to Clostridium botulinum) but considering that other more heat resistant non-pathogens may survive the sterilization (such as Bacillus stearothermophilus) so there could be other bacterial spores present. Is there then a standard or tolerance?
Thank you.
Best regards,
Ted Brillantes
JMB International
69 Prasartsook, Yenarkard, Chongnonsee, Yannawa
Bangkok 10120 THAILAND
Tel. (662) 249-1951 & 5, (662) 671-0157 to 8 ext. 120
Fax. (662) 249-2011, (662) 240-1092
Mobile/Cell (669) 762-9051
www.jmbinter.com <http://www.jmbinter.com/>
________________________________
From: Ted Brillantes
Sent: 13 December, 2004 03:50 PM
To: seafood
Subject: Aerobic bacteria 900 cfu at 30 C in canned crab
Dear List,
We have a canned crab product that was found with aerobic bacteria, 900 cfu at 30 C. The can was normal and the product appearance, odor and taste were normal. Another laboratory confirmed the results on different cans from the same code. We have reviewed all our processing records (retort, cooling water residual chlorine, seams etc) and could not find anything out of spec. Our sterilization process assures an Fo value of 6 minutes.
The 2 independent tests from accredited labs would indicate that the organism is not from lab contamination. There was no leak and no under-processing. So, the only explanation is that the organism has a higher heat resistance than Clostridium botulinum. We are now testing for C.botulinum.
Would you agree with me that 900 cfu after 3 months storage is a very low number? That the absence of swell or leak, the normal appearance of the can, the normal sensory quality of the product and the low microbial count would indicate that the organism survived but did not grow? And how would it grow considering that the can is an anaerobic condition?
Lastly, could anyone explain to me if we can use the USFDA BAM method below which is supposed to confirm whether the organism is from lab contamination or whether it is commercially sterile?
"Any organisms isolated from normal cans that have obvious vacuum and normal product but no organisms in the direct smear should be suspected as being a laboratory contaminant. To confirm, aseptically inoculate growing organism into another normal can, solder the hole closed, and incubate 14 days at 35°C. If any swelling of container or product changes occur, the organism was probably not in the original sample. If can remains flat, open it aseptically and subculture as previously described. If a culture of the same organism is recovered and the product is normal, consider the product commercially sterile since the organism does not grow under normal conditions of storage and distribution." (Ref: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~ebam/bam-21a.html, number 6, Section F, Interpretation of results)
My concern is that since the organism is aerobic, if we puncture the other normal can then inoculate and solder it, would this procedure not create an aerobic condition which would be ideal for growth.
Thank you in advance for your comments.
Best regards,
Ted Brillantes
JMB International
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