Hygiene guideline of Uniteis e.V. is an important topic for food inspectors

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Aug 13, 2019 - Foods

Hygiene guideline of Uniteis e.V. is an important topic for food inspectors

From May 20 to 22, 2019, a training event was held at the BAV Institute in cooperation with the German Federal Association of Food Inspectors. Over 30 food inspectors from all over Germany informed themselves about current topics in food hygiene and law.

An important topic was the hygiene guideline of Uniteis e. V. This was presented by Dario Olivier (President of Uniteis e. V.) and Paul Andrei (Managing Director of BAV Institut GmbH) and discussed with the participants.

Initially, the creation of the guideline and its background were explained. On one hand, there are legal backgrounds (Article 7 of Regulation (EC) 852/2004), and on the other hand, Uniteis e.V. wanted to create a uniform hygiene standard for all artisanal ice cream producers in Germany. This standard must be implementable for the businesses and suitable for the food surveillance as a guideline for hygiene checks and microbiological examinations.

Thus, clear and uniform requirements were to be created so that the businesses know what is expected of them and how they are to implement it to satisfy food surveillance.

Since the businesses' self-controls must be considered in future food surveillance exams (Article 9 of the Control Regulation), all involved parties (businesses and surveillance), benefit from the notified Uniteis guideline.

Dario Olivier also mentioned that Uniteis e. V. has published a book with the guideline in Italian and German and distributed it to all members. The association aims to increase awareness and implementation of the guideline.

In Paul Andrei's lecture, the main contents of the guideline were presented:

• Requirements for rooms, facilities, and equipment
• Good Hygiene Practice
• Microbiological quality control
• Presentation of an "HACCP concept"
• Appendices (checklist and templates for documentation)

The sampling plan for microbiological self-checks and the criteria for ice cream and whipped cream were explained in detail (see tables 1 to 3).

Table 1: Microbiological criteria for ice cream sold in bulk in reference to

 DGHM Recommendations (2013)

* CFU = Colony Forming Units

** If ingredients such as yogurt with live lactic acid bacteria are used, this must be taken into consideration in the assessment
    considered

Table 2: Microbiological criteria for whipped cream in reference to

 DGHM Recommendations (2014)

*CFU = Colony Forming Units

Table 3: Sampling plan for microbiological self-checks by artisanal

ice cream manufacturers (food and surfaces)

In addition to the legal aspects, Paul Andrei explained the advantages of microbiological self-checks for the businesses. Using statistics, he demonstrated that businesses could improve through regular self-checks. The comparison of test results from swab tests from the years 2013 and 2018 (see diagrams 1 and 2) showed an improvement of over 7%. By dealing regularly with test results, businesses continuously learn and improve their hygiene standards.

Diagram 1: Swab tests (Year 2013)

Diagram 2: Swab tests (Year 2018)

The entire forum agreed that the Uniteis guideline is a success for the entire industry and has implications for other sectors and even other European countries.

We are happy to support you as a partner in these topics and challenges. Please contact Ms. Christine Käfer by phone at 0781/96947-286 or by email at christine.kaefer@bav-institut.de if you have any questions.