Microbiological

Specifications
Introduction

 In food safety we mostly refer to the microbiological

quality of the food.
 Hence need a way to assess the microbiological quality
of the food and food contact surfaces
 Microbiological specs are guidelines or limits for
microorganisms and food contact surfaces & how they
can be detected and/or enumerated
 Provide a way of assessing the effectiveness of the
hygiene practices
 Microbiological specs should be included into a
country’s food law
 A microbiological specification should include:
1. A statement explaining the micro org/ microbial toxins of concern
2. A description of sampling plan to be applied in order to obtain the samples
3. The microbiological limits appropriate to the food and its intended market
4. A precise analytical method to be employed

Examples of specifications
 The coliform test – ISO4832/BS4285. Identification and enumeration shld be done
on crystal violet neutral red bile lactose agar @ 300C incubated for 24 hr
 According to ISO4833,ICMSF,1978 aerobic mesophilic counts shld be done on
glucose tryptone yeast extract agar,incubated @ 300C for 48hr
Some specs include the maximum counts permissible
under specified conditions and the number of samples
to be taken.

For some pathogens zero tolerance levels are

advocated but may not be achievable

In all specifications procedure used in assessing

microbial quality should be stated

A statistically acceptable method should be used such

as the 2 class- and 3 class- attribute sampling plans

Threshold populations of target micro organisms must

take into account aspects such as the minimum
infective dose or toxic dose for the target consumers.

As well as the subsequent storage and treatment of

such food.
 Therefore microbiological specifications shoulld not be included in
legislation without careful consideration of all sociological ,financial,
epidemiological and even political implication of the numerical values
proposed for microbial counts.
 Enforcements of microbiological specifications is a problem! !!
 Methods of food testing are destructive
 Official inspection of premises & samples cannot guarantee that a given
food is of the stated quality
Each business premise should have management systems for safety and
quality established and maintained by qualified technical staff eg HACCP
system.
For more comprehensive examples look up EC 2073-2005 in handouts from
pages 11
  Defined as any
taxonomic,physiological or ecological
group of micro organisms whose
presence or absence provides indirect
evidence concerning a particular
Indicator feature in the past history of the
sample.
Micro  Often associated with organisms of
intestinal origin
organisms  Examples
 All Gram negative bacteria( In heat
treated food they are indicative of
inadequate heat treatment or
contamination subsequent to heating)
 Coliforms , are a subsection of gram
negative bacteria
 Microbial indicators
Must be easily
are often employed Criteria for use of
Shld not be a distinguishable from
to assess food safety an organism as an
natural contaminant other members of
and sanitation than indicator
the food flora
quality

The micro organisms

Test should be less
present must be Growth limit under Should not survive
complex than test
easily and rapidly conditions processing
for pathogen
detectable

The organism should Should have

Processing should The organisms be present reasonably longer
have same effect on should be useful for whenever enteric survival time than
pathogens all types of water pathogens are the hardiest enteric
present pathogen

The density of the

indicator organism
The testing method
Should not grow in should have some
should be easy to
water direct relationship
perform
to the degree of
pollution
Pathogens
 Food products will never be 100% safe to eat .
 There is always a probability of getting ill after consuming a food product
 Immense costs involved in terms of human illness and economic loss
 A number of pathogenic micro orgs associate with food and result in
foodborne diseases
Intoxication type food poisoning
 Caused by the growth of on or in a food thereby producing a metabolite
that is toxic to the consumer.
 Examples include, S.aureus, C. botulinum and Bacillus cereus
 Another type of poisoning occurs by ingestion of food containing
mycotoxins produced by fungi that would have grown on the food
Infection type of food poisoning
 Occurs when microorganisms have multiplied in the food to produce
sufficient numbers equivalent to the infective dose of that micro organism
 With some micro organisms such Salmonella the infective dose is very
small with a single micro organism thought to cause diseases in some
people.
Examples of pathogens
 Escherichia coli 0157:H7
 Results in infectious type food poisoning
Symptoms :
 Diarrhoea
 Abdominal pain
 In some cases intestinal bleeding(haemorrhagic colitis)
 Kidney failure (haemolytic uremic syndrome)
 Symptoms occur within 2 days after eating contaminated food
 May last for 4 to 10 days
 Infective dose maybe < 10 cells
 The micros can survive acidic environments that are otherwise lethal to
other pathogens such as fermented foods e.g sausage and apple cider
 Other foods include raw milk, dry cured salami,lettuce,
potatoes,radish,yoghurt & sandwiches

Sources of contamination of E.coli 0157:H7

 Fecal contamination during animal production and slaughter operations

 Cross contamination with equipment and workers’ hands
 Fresh manure used to fertilize garden fruits and vegetables
Salmonella spp.
 Gram - ,motile rod shaped bacteria
 Capable of aerobic and anaerobic growth between 7 and 48 0C( optimum
37 c) at pH 4-8
 Readily killed during heat treatment e.g pasteurisation and in acid e.g
1.4% acetic acid
 Resistant to both freezing and drying particularly in the presence of
proteins
 Its ubiquitous among domestic & wild animals hence a problem
 Has several serovars such as S.enteritidis phage type (PT)4 which causes
invasive infection of poultry leading to septicaemia and subsequent
chronic infection of various organs
 S.typhimurium and S.enteritidis account for three quarters of human
illness
Salmonella enteritidis
 Principal symptoms in humans:
-diarrhoea
-abdominal pain
-mild fever
-chills
-nausea & vomiting
-prostration
-anorexia
-headaches and malaise
 Incubation period is 5 -72 hours and symptoms usually occur between 12
and 36 hours after infection
 Lasts from 2 to 5 days
 Illness more severe in very young and elderly(YOPIs)
 10 -100 cells can cause illness in (YOPIs) especially if the organism is
contained in high fat foods such as cheese,chocolate, hamburgers and
salami
 Management of enteritidis is by fluid replacement

Salmonella enteric fever are caused by S.typhi, S.paratyphi A,B,C

Features are :malaise,headaches,high and persistent fever, body
aches,abdominal pains, nausea, vomiting, coughing , sweating ,chills .
The incubation period is 7-28days depending on infective dose and the
organisms can also be detected in blood and urine.
 Campylobacter sp
 rarely coz deaths or spectacular outbreaks of food poisoning
 They are agents of acute infective diarrhoea
 Are motile ,spiral rods
 The spiral shape facilitates colonisation of mucous membranes
 Are micro-aerophilic
 Well known strains are C.jejuni and C.coli
 Altho infections believed to originate in the intestine , abdominal
symptoms are usually absent
 Camplobacter enteritis is acute enterecolitis with historical feature
indistinguishable from those of salmonella or shigella
 It produces cholera like enterotoxins and one or more cytotoxins
 Incubation period is 3 days and almost all patients recover within a week
Sources of campylobacter contamination
 C.jejuni & C.coli live in a wide range of animals esp.birds(high optimum
growth temp of 42- 430C
 Wild birds a more direct source via water
 Present in raw milk=>fecal contamination at the tym of milking / thru
mastitis
 Animal meat=by handling of raw product ,consumption of raw or
undercooked products
*they do not multiply in warm meat
 Infectious dose is a few hundred cells
Listeria
 L.monocytogenes is an important human & animal pathogen
 A facultative anaerobic & grows better in air but anaerobic conditions
favor the recovery of damaged cells
 Occur as short , regular,gram +,non acid fast non sporing rods tht may be
single cells or short chains
 Optimum growth temp is about 30 – 35 0C but the temp growth range is
0-45 oC
 Does not survive properly conducted commercial sterilisation
 Cold stored foods are important sources of contamination
 Listeriosis results in high mortality rates
 Clinical features range from :
 Mild influenza like illness to meningitis and meningoencephalitis
 In pregnant women = abortion, still birth or delivery of an acutely ill
infant
 Illness severe also in YOPIs

Food intoxication .
Bacillus cereus
 Causes two distinct forms of gastroenteritis
1. Diarrhoeal syndrome
o Associated with proteinaceous foods,vegies, sauces & puddings
o Levels of B.cereus in implicated foods usually contain more than 10 5
organisms per gram
o 8- 16hr incubation period
o Symptoms include abdominal pain,profuse watery diarrhoea,nausea
&vomiting
o Generally resolve within 12- 24 hours
o The enterotoxin is both pre formed in the food & formed in the
stomach,
o Enterotoxin is a heat labile protein
2. Emetic syndrome
 Associated with farinaccous (starch containing) foods
eg cooked rice
 Levels in implicated foods range 103 – 5x1010 cfu/g
 High number present in fecal samples of patients
 Incubation period is 1 to 5 hours
 Symptoms are nausea,vomiting and malaise
 Illness lasts 6-24hours
 Toxin is preformed in the food and is probably a
peptide with low molecular weight
Sources of B cereus contamination

Its widespread in the environment &

present in most raw foods

Spices contain high number of

spores which survive cooking

Lack of proper refrigeration after

cooking allow spores to germinate
and multiply in food
Staphylococcus aureus
• Gram + and appearing as bunches of cells or like
clusters of grapes or in pairs and short chains.
• They grow better aerobically than anaerobic
growth.
• Some of the toxigenic cocci are very salt tolerant
and also tolerate nitrites fairly well and therefore
can grow in curing solutions and on curing and
cured meats.
• Food poisoning is most commonly caused by the
ingestion of the enterotoxin formed in food during
growth of certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus
• causes gastroenteritis or inflammation of the lining
of the intestinal tract
Read on the
intoxication
You will be examined on
organisms in

them !
the course
reader…