Part 3 Monitoring

1. Part 3 Monitoring

2. Content • What is monitoring and where does it fit into Listeria control? • Setting up a monitoring programme • Which Listeria? • What is in a programme? • The laboratory • Record keeping • Responding to finding Listeria • Review of monitoring programmes

3. What is monitoring? It is what is done to show that a process is under control • Shelf life testing • Ingredient and raw material testing • Monitoring CCPs • Monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation • Monitoring the process environment for the presence of Listeria • Product testing

4. A common mistake Monitoring the process environment for the presence of Listeria and Product testing are all that is needed to control Listeria Not going to work. Cannot substitute for getting the GOP and CCP control right

5. What environmental monitoring can do • Ongoing assurance that controls are working • Finds breaches • Assurance that new processes and procedures do work • Early warning of a potential for contamination

6. Product testing • Unless you test all the food you produce you cannot rely on testing to show that Listeria is not present. • Testing a few samples gives little confidence • 1% contamination • 1 sample 99% chance of missing that the lot is contaminated • 10 samples 90% • 50 samples 60%

7. A successful monitoring programme will- • Try to find Listeria • Make the right response when it is found • Require time and effort • Needs commitment from all staff, especially senior management • Will be a sound financial investment if properly done

8. Which species? • Listeria monocytogenes is the most pathogenic by a long chalk • Other species are rarely pathogenic • BUT all the species are the same in other characteristics • So, faster and cheaper to test for Listeria sp. • Focus on L.monocytogenes when found in product

9. Is environmental monitoring always useful? • Not always • Depends on whether food can support growth of Listeria and whether contamination could have occurred. • Sometimes more effective to verify and monitor CCPs, micro hurdles etc e.g. heat treated product in a consumer pack

10. When is monitoring most useful? • Essential for foods that can support the growth of Listeria and exposed to contamination after CCPs etc (high risk foods) • Useful for foods that • support the growth but not exposed to contamination at the end of processing • do not support the growth but could be contaminated at the end of processing

11. Monitoring of limited value when - • Food not exposed to contamination at the end of processing, whether or not it supports growth • More important to focus on process controls, ingredients, GOP

12. Components of a monitoring programme • Responsibilities • Training of samplers • A sampling plan • Sampling (how and what) – environmental and product • The laboratory • Record keeping • Responding to a positive result

13. When Listeria is found • Response is related to where it is found • Escalating from low hygiene area through to high care/product contact surfaces and product

14. Review • Important that every aspect of a monitoring programme is regularly reviewed and changes made