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Control of environmental pathogens

The HACCP plan has been a legal requirement in the food industry for many years. In addition, auto-control guides and GFSI standards reinforce the food safety system. But despite all these systems, food safety problems continue to crop up regularly at production sites. Increasingly, house strains, also known as persistent strains, are being discovered. These strains are difficult to get rid of, and must be monitored with care and expertise. Advanced analytical techniques such as whole genome sequencing (WGS) can be used to further examine the DNA of pathogens. Through this technique, foodborne outbreaks can increasingly be linked to farms, but this presents an additional challenge for the food industry....

To mitigate the current issues regarding domestic strains, the Federal Agency for Food Safety (FASFC) has developed a guide in collaboration with FEVIA, UGent and ILVO. This additional module GM 4 environmental pathogens is a mandatory addition to the already existing auto-control guides, and will be co-audited during the audit starting March 10, 2025. Time for implementation.

Better prevention than cure

The guide describes additional requirements that not only focus on compliance with microbiological criteria in the final product, but now also address the production environment. In addition, the guide provides clarification in drawing up a well-supported environmental monitoring plan and improving food safety in the company.

In terms of content, the guide focuses on 2 major pillars:

  • Preventive measures focusing on good hygiene and production practices to prevent cross-contamination from the production environment to the foodstuff.
  • A well-founded environmental monitoring plan in which a risk-based approach is the foundation. Historical data and good business knowledge ensure that an effective environmental monitoring plan is established. But continuing to improve and evaluate is important because a review of the monitoring plan is required at least every 3 years.
Control of environmental pathogens

In addition to a procedure, the guide also calls for a risk-based plan to be implemented in the quality system. It also imposes additional requirements regarding the basic condition program with the goal of improving food safety.

Précon can help you with this. With our in-depth training in microbiological analyses and the analysis plan we take a critical look at the analysis plan and the microbiological results. After all, proper processing of these results in combination with a good analysis plan leads to early detection of contamination so that an adequate response can be made.

Questions or need support?

Need help implementing the module in your quality system or have questions about environmental pathogens in your organization? Please contact us at +32 11 26 99 07 or email learning@precon.group

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