Enterobacteriaceae and dry herbs

We just received dry raw materials with Enterobacteriaceae (something that we never see in COAs).

Supplier let it slip that the Enterobacteriaceae level (6200 cfu/g) is higher than their customer spec (<100 cfu/g). We are in Canada so there is no written limit anywhere that I can find for Enterobacteriaceae for dry herb.  Additionally, this product has a coliform count at 4100 cfu/g.

We need help to figure out if this material even safe for tea with the combination of these microbial (Enterobacteriaceae and coliform) numbers. 

Help?

They didn't specify which bacterium specifically?

Here is a link to Health Canada limits on RTE foods

https://publications...67-2013-eng.pdf

Assuming you don't have a kill step in your process, if not, I wouldn't use them

The Health Canada limit for ecoli is <10 cfu/g to be satisfactory  and total coliform levels of <10 (2) cfu/g

Hi,

IMO:

• It would be useful to determine the organism. Was there any pathogen testing done? If so, what organism(s)?
• Based on that information, that should guide your decision making and risk assessment. 
• Generally (with few exceptions), there are not many sources that have EB parameters. 

Hi cosmicbrat,

Enterobacteriaceae are an indicator organism and are a large family of Gram-negative bacteria that includes a number of pathogens such as Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Shigella, Proteus, Serratia and other species.

To add to the Health Canada Limits of RTE Food - See Food Standards Australia New Zealand Compendium of Microbiological Criteria for Food which refers to Enterobacteriaceae as an Indicator Organism as well:

Table 2. Interpreting results for testing of indicator organisms in ready-to-eat foods.jpg   108.6KB   0 downloads

The presence of indicator organisms in larger numbers indicates the potential for the presence of pathogens. There a many examples of issues with pathogen contamination of herbs and spices:

It's not the chicken, it's the adobo: Hundreds of spices recalled after FDA warns of Salmonella fears

McCormick recalls 3 seasonings for possible salmonella; Walmart, Target, Kroger among stores that sold spices

Recalls of Spices Due to Bacterial Contamination Monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: The Predominance of Salmonellae

FDA Just Confiscated 25,000 Bags of These Spices Due to "Unsanitary Conditions"

ASTA Microbiology of Spices has more examples and guidance. It also states: It is noteworthy that the FDA considers spices sold to customers to be RTE products by nature according to the 2017 Food Code [73]. The general public might not consider spices to be a food safety risk and frequently uses them without subsequent cooking. Although most foods made by food manufacturers are cooked or processed prior to consumption, many are also consumed without the benefit of a lethality step, such as cooking at the appropriate temperature and time by boiling, baking, etc [73]. The implication of this is that companies must ensure that spice products are processed to control potential hazards prior to being sold to consumers.

Clearly there is a problem with your dry raw material. The most sensible option would be to reject it and send it back to the supplier. Thinking it may be acceptable in tea is a risky path I wouldn’t want to go down.

Kind regards,

Tony

Definitely reject the product.  Your supplier should not be sending you out-of-spec product without your permission (and I wouldn't grant permission in this situation).  

 

We just received dry raw materials with Enterobacteriaceae (something that we never see in COAs).

 

Supplier let it slip that the Enterobacteriaceae level (6200 cfu/g) is higher than their customer spec (<100 cfu/g). We are in Canada so there is no written limit anywhere that I can find for Enterobacteriaceae for dry herb.  Additionally, this product has a coliform count at 4100 cfu/g.

 

We need help to figure out if this material even safe for tea with the combination of these microbial (Enterobacteriaceae and coliform) numbers. 

 

Help?

 

 

Hi CB,

As already noted yr micro data for EB and coliform are unlikely to be acceptable for RTE classified finished products.

Regarding yr data, the Procedure for (group) Enterobacteriaceae likely includes the group (coliform).

Neither Enterobacteriaceae nor Coliforms have been justified as  directly safety related although both are frequently used as hygiene indicators (the relevance of this latter interpretation may relate to the specific situation/product).

So (a) what pre-processing was applied to the dry raw material ? (b) what processing are you going to do to it? (c) Do you have specifications for yr raw material / finished product ?

If no bactericidal processing step applied herbs / spices may typically have high counts.

I enclose a Canadian model haccp plan for spices (including pre-treated and untreated raw materials)

haccp plan RTE spices.pdf   4.49MB   17 downloads