- Print Friendly - Help

• 5. Listeria Management Programmes

5. Listeria Management Programmes

These guidelines highlight those areas and operations that may allow Listeria to enter and survive in your processing environment, and what you can do about it. The guidelines are based on local experiences here in New Zealand, but other countries have experienced the same problems and recommend similar control measures.

These guidelines do not constitute an exhaustive list of control measures. Each processing operation is unique and you will need to evaluate your own operation to establish the management procedures that are most appropriate.

General principles

HACCP

• The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point approach is a tool you can use to prevent contamination in a systematic way. HACCP is recommended for the control of Listeria in the fishing industry, and forms the basis of a food safety programme.
• There are seven major principles involved in setting up an HACCP programme. These may be summarised as follows:

1.Identify hazards associated with each operational step and determine what control is necessary.

2.Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs) at which the hazards can be controlled.

3.Determine the critical limits that must be met to ensure each CCP is under control.

4.Establish monitoring procedures for each CCP.

5.Establish corrective action to be taken when CCPs are not controlled.

6.Establish procedures to verify that the HACCP system is working.

7.Establish effective documentation describing the HACCP programme.

• Further guidance on the use of HACCP can be obtained by attending a recognised HACCP workshop.

Food Safety Programme

• It is recommended that each fish packing house develops its own Food Safety Programme.

• In general, a Food Safety Programme should cover the following areas;

FIICC and MAF RA Requirements

• FIICC and MAF RA may occasionally issue circulars required specific actions to be carried out, e.g. describing the required monitoring for Listeriain fish packing house environments. The content of these circulars should be considered to be a minimum requirement and should be incorporated into your Food Safety Programmes.