Microbiological Standards for Frozen berries
Good afternoon IFSQN members,
We produce berries (fraise the bois, strawberries, raspberries and in association with other producers of the area blackberries and blueberries.
We've been looking for the FDA or USDA or Euro fact sheets on the Microbiological Standards for Frozen berries.
In Mexico we navigate with the Food NOM (Official Mexican Norm) or the NOM for strawberry jelly, but we do not have a specific one for frozen berries.
Interested in the count limit of Moulds and Yeast because what we found so far is from the USDA
https://www.ams.usda...ctober 2014.pdf
and it only gives reference for Frozen Blackberries and Raspberries Puree (page 9) and the compliance sounds really high 10,000 CFU/gram
We wash the berries with PAA 15/10 (Peracetic Acid) and has proven to be a good chlorine-free microbial agent option.
Thanks in advance for steer us in the right direction.
Saludos!
Gabriela Barraza
GBxx
Not my area of expertise but I'm very surprised to not see Listeria on there. I would think Listeria would be your highest risk? It can survive freezing (coliforms / E Coli can't and yeasts would slowly die off too) and as the berries could be used without further processing (e.g. in smoothies) I would say it's vital Listeria is tested and absent. Just because it can't grow when it's frozen, it could then grow again when defrosted (e.g. if people make into smoothies and take out with them) and, if present at high levels, could be dangerous even if eaten very cold or frozen (look at Blue Bell ice cream).
Hi FB,
Not sure what product form you are discussing but I assume the puree specs in USDA are, by Wiki definition of puree, for pasteurized product.
If so, I agree with you that 10,000 cfu/g for both Y/M looks very high indeeed. afaik should be "destroyed" in pasteurization process, eg maybe < 10cfu/g unless this is a very mild "pasteurization", eg not based on L.mono.
Not my product area but the other values look feasible IMO although 50,000 cfu/g may not be so easy as a routine limit. (more like "m" rather than "M" perhaps).
Hi FB,
Not sure what product form you are discussing but I assume the puree specs in USDA are, by Wiki definition of puree, for pasteurized product.
If so, I agree with you that 10,000 cfu/g for both Y/M looks very high indeeed. afaik should be "destroyed" in pasteurization process, eg maybe < 10cfu/g unless this is a very mild "pasteurization", eg not based on L.mono.
Not my product area but the other values look feasible IMO although 50,000 cfu/g may not be so easy as a routine limit. (more like "m" rather than "M" perhaps).
Not my area of expertise but I'm very surprised to not see Listeria on there. I would think Listeria would be your highest risk? It can survive freezing (coliforms / E Coli can't and yeasts would slowly die off too) and as the berries could be used without further processing (e.g. in smoothies) I would say it's vital Listeria is tested and absent. Just because it can't grow when it's frozen, it could then grow again when defrosted (e.g. if people make into smoothies and take out with them) and, if present at high levels, could be dangerous even if eaten very cold or frozen (look at Blue Bell ice cream).
Thank you very much GMO & Charles for your comments, indeed our main concern is EColi, Salmonella and Listeria and those are covered (Negative). We make sure that GAP and GMP are follow in the fields and in the freezing process. Then the lots samples are sent to the lab for micro testing.
Our interest on the Mould and yeast count maximum limits is because it seams that there's nothing set as a standard for whole frozen blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Or maybe we have not search enough for the specs.
Saludos!
Hi FB,
I did a little googling. Some examples are attached below.
Seems pH is low (high acid) presumably explaining the low bacterial levels for raw product. Further, according to one source (spb7) a pH <4.5 will accelerate bacterial die-off during frozen storage + inhibit growth in thawed products.
Includes one file (spb4) for puree (note the low values shown)
Includes one extract (spb7,ICMSF ca.1968) showing some recommended limits for E.coli based on a variety of data. Note the footnote "b".(The source for spb7 did not recommend APC limits unless some process history available and subsequent usage known (eg for cooking).
spb1 IQF-Blackberries.pdf 355.77KB 112 downloads
spb2 - IQF_FrozenBlackberries.pdf 481.85KB 114 downloads
spb4 - Puree - Blackberry.pdf 311.44KB 62 downloads
spb5 - freeze dried blackberry.pdf 368.73KB 100 downloads
spb6 - 006_specification deep-frozen blackberry iqf.pdf 113.04KB 90 downloads
spb7 - micro - fruit.pdf 51.45KB 133 downloads
max. Limits for raw product Y&M vary over a wide range, eg 100 - 10,000. Maybe a measure of raw product variability with source(?) and applied process.