Microbiological Reference Values, part III

Because of rising demands for the hygiene of foods and packaging (EC Hygiene legislation: Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004) the food and packaging industry calls increasingly for microbiological reference values predominantly for packaging (materials, containers). A research group of the IVLV, Munich, coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering, Freising, elaborated the following guidelines for food packaging:

• Part I: Reference values for films, plates and containers made of not-sucking materials: plastics, aluminium, laminates). Published in 2004 in “Verpackungs-Rundschau 12/2004).
• Part II: Reference values for containers made of glass, metal and plastics. Is just in work and will be finished in Oct. 2007.

At present the elaboration of Part III of this topic is in preparation: “Microbiological reference values for packaging made of paper and board”

Members of the research group are: Producers of packaging and packaging materials, converters, producers of machines and plants, producers of foods and food packers, industrial associations

Aims of the project:

• Analysis and evaluation of hygienic hazards and risks for packaging in the production and logistic chain
• Risk analysis for laminates based on paper and board
• Collecting of public microbiological data for paper and board
• Determination of the microbial loads of laminates based on paper and board conducted by the Fraunhofer VV (continuation of the project in 2009)
• Settlement of microbiological reference values based on the recommendation of the research group
• Basis for the evaluation scheme of hygienic packaging across industry.

Innovative contributions of these reference values are the progression of the hygienic technique and of practical quality standards for the packaging industry and the whole packaging chain.