News

1st December 2011:

From December 1st 2011, an amendment to EC/2075/2005 comes into force in the UK.  The new regulation is EC/1086/2011 and the changes it creates are:

 1. The creation of new Salmonella food safety criterion for fresh poultry meat (defined as breeding flocks of Gallus gallus, laying hens, broilers and breeding and fattening flocks of turkeys).  The criterion are the absence of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis in all of the five samples of three pooled neckskins (or other allowed substitute sample types) tested. Testing for salmonellas is using the EN/ISO 6579 protocol (for detection) and serotyping is using the White-Kaufmann-Le Minor scheme.

2. In addition, from the 1st January 2012 the number of positive isolations of Salmonella allowed from fifty samples of three pooled neckskins taken from turkeys and broilers for process control purposes has been reduced from less than 7/50 to less than 5/50.  The new amendment is available here.

3. When Salmonella is isolated from samples of pooled neckskin tested for process control, serotyping must be undertaken to verify compliance against the food safety criteria. When Salmonella Typhimurium or Salmonella Enteritidis is shown to be present, the batch from which the samples were taken cannot be placed on or must be removed from the market.

1st January 2010:

On January 1st 2010, there were some changes made to the test criteria for minced meat and meat preparations as well as changes to the sample test masses for poultry products. The derogation which allowed a single positive test result for Salmonella out of five statutory minced meat or meat preparations tests ended.  Therefore from January 1st 2010, it is not acceptable for any of the five food safety tests to report a Salmonella detection.  Also on the 1st January 2010, the test sample mass for minced meat and meat preparations increased from 10g to 25g for poultry-derived products.

1st January 2010: 

Food chain information requirements for cattle, sheep and goats

From the 1st January 2010, slaughterhouses processing cattle, sheep and goats destined for human consumption are obliged to check and act upon food chain information (FCI) supplied with the stock.  The new regulations build upon those already in force for calves and pigs.  More detailed information regarding the new requirements, including the minimum data that should be provided, is available from the main Agency website by clicking here.

12th September 2009:

Why the 'time between slaughter and mincing' and 'whether vac packing was used' is now being collected along with test result information.

The BMPA is working with the Food Standards Agency on the modernisation of meat hygiene controls. The collection of data generated by industry is an essential part of generating the science and evidence base required to justify these updates for the UK meat industry within a European context.  The BMPA encourages it's members to continue to provide their microbiological monitoring data on carcasses minced meat, meat preparations and meat products to the database at www.ukmeat.org.  All information supplied is confidential at the plant level, and the data supplied will be summarised in with other plant's results to provide an overall picture of the UK situation.

The sample information required for minced meat when submitting results has recently been changed to include the species and age of meat at mincing as well as the results of aerobic colony count and E. coli microbiological monitoring.  The BMPA requests that this vital information is provided by manufacturers of minced meat to support the ongoing work by the Food Standards Agency and the BMPA on the production of mince from aged meat.