The CFA members-only, confidential microbiological databases collect and store members’ sampling data for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) and Bacillus cereus (B. cereus). CFA’s Lm survey was established in 2003 to assess and demonstrate the efficacy of the industry’s controls and provide for benchmarking. It comprises some 4 million food and production environment datapoints entered by CFA members, shared with fellow member contributors on a consolidated basis. This provides valuable benchmarking information for members and, when appropriate, the wider food industry via briefings by CFA. The consolidated Listeria and B. cereus datasets are available to all contributing CFA members. The B. cereus […]

The Industry Listeria Group has challenged Campden BRI’s Guideline 81: “Demonstrating control of listeria in ready to eat (RTE) foods. Listeria control: how should you approach it?”. Whilst some ILG members were part of the recent review which started prior to lockdown, Campden now acknowledge that some component parts are inaccurate and the final document displays an uneven balance in the emphasis of other parts. As CFA Director General, Karin Goodburn, explains: “This document, despite its title, does not cover the whole process of demonstrating control of Listeria. Instead, it focusses more on claimed advantages of challenge testing compared to […]

CFA’s suite of best practice publications provides guidance to both growers and producers of chilled, minimally processed, ready to eat (RTE) food, helping ensure risks are minimised throughout the food chain.. The latest in the portfolio is designed for chilled food producers using raw salad and vegetable ingredients where the edible portion is grown in the ground and the final foods are RTE. ‘CFA: Best practice in the preparation of beetroot and onion for minimally processed, RTE applications’ focuses on those two ingredients to help minimise challenges regarding potential Listeria contamination. It is important that businesses are aware of any […]