Chapter 3 : Microbiological Criteria and Indicator Microorganisms

Abstract:

The concepts and principles for the establishment of microbiological criteria were elaborated in the mid-1980s by the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods. These concepts have been used to develop recommendations for criteria for foods in international trade or for criteria specific to pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, in foods. They have also been the basis of the Codex Alimentarius Commission document “Principles and Guidelines for the Establishment and Application of Microbiological Criteria Related to Foods,” first issued in 1997 and revised in 2013. This document defines a microbiological criterion as a risk management metric which indicates the acceptability of a food or the performance of either a process or a food safety control system following the outcome of sampling and testing for microorganisms, their toxins and metabolites, or markers associated with pathogenicity or other traits at a specified point of the food chain.