The Issue that you selected is shown below. If you click on "Word Document File with Tracking," you will open a Word document version of the Issue. Because the document you will be opening is in Word format, you will need to use Word functions to save or print the Issue. When you view or use this Word version, the internal html functions will no longer work. Closing the screen will return you to the Start icon.
Issue Number: Council III 007
Title
Issue you would like the Conference to consider
At the 2012 Biennial Meeting of the Conference for Food Protection, a committee was formed to revise the 2006 Voluntary Guidelines of Sanitation Practices Standard Operating Procedures and Good Retail Practices to Minimize Contamination and Growth of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) Within Food Establishments. The committee was charged (Issue # 2012 III-022) with revising the 2006 guidelines to include:
1. Sanitation guidance for slicers,
2. Information on cross contamination and harborage points for Lm,
3. More detailed information about how sampling for Lm can be conducted as part of a strategy for preventing Lm contamination at retail,
4. Updating outdated links to other documents, and
5. Other relevant information identified by the Committee.
The Conference also asked the Committee to report its recommendations back to the 2014 Biennial Meeting with Issues to address the above charges and include recommendations that a letter be sent to FDA requesting that Annex 2 (References, Part 3-Supporting Documents) be amended by adding a reference to the revised voluntary guidelines.
The Listeria Retail Guidelines Committee requests acknowledgement of their final report and acknowledgement of the committee members for their hard work.
Public Health Significance
Listeria contamination at retail continues to be a significant public health issue. Although the 2006 CFP Listeria retail guidelines provided useful general information about cleaning, sanitizing and sampling in the retail environment, newer and more detailed information regarding sanitation guidelines for complex equipment such as slicers, and harborage points for Lm, as well as updated references and links, will make the 2006 guidelines more useful for the retail and food service industries. Updates to the 2006 document that were developed by a committee whose membership included a wide variety of viewpoints will help ensure that the guidelines provide the best possible information to help food establishments protect public health.
Recommended Solution: The Conference recommends...
1. Acknowledgment of the 2012-14 Listeria Retail Guidelines Committee Report, and
2. Thanking the members of the 2012-14 Listeria Retail Guidelines Committee for their work.