UpdateoftheDGHMRecommendations

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Sep 17, 2024 - Foods

UpdateoftheDGHMRecommendations

Below we would like to highlight the latest updates to the DGHM Recommendations. Please be sure to also note the change to the preamble (see below).
The “Permanent Working Group Microbiological Guideline and Warning Values for Food of the DGHM e.V.” (German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology e.V.) publishes guideline and warning values for the assessment of microbiological examination results for numerous product groups of food. These criteria are intended to provide guidance in assessing the hygienic-microbiological quality of food. In contrast to the legal criteria of Regulation (EC) No. 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for food, the DGHM recommendations are not legally binding.
We have considered the innovations in the DGHM recommendations in our test plans.
 
New or updated recommendations for:

Cooked sausage, boiled sausage, cooked cured meats as well as brawn and aspic products at the trading level (No. 3.1)
The recommendation remains unchanged in terms of parameters and values.

• Smoked salmon, cold smoked (No. 5.3)

The draft was approved as a recommendation without relevant content changes.
 
The DGHM recommendations are available for a fee at https://www.dghm-richt-warnwerte.de/en.
 
New draft:

• Raw sausages at the trading level (No. 3.2)

Compared to the previous recommendation, the criteria for coagulase-positive staphylococci in this draft are reduced by one order of magnitude. The recommendation includes the following parameters:
 
- Enterobacteriaceae
- Escherichia coli
- Coagulase-positive staphylococci           New: Guideline value 1x102 CFU/g; Warning value 1x103 CFU/g
- STEC
- Salmonella
- Listeria monocytogenes
 
The drafts are freely accessible at www.dghm.org.
  
The following recommendations are currently under revision and may be revised:

• Raw cured products at the trading level (No. 3.3)
• Marine fish (No. 5.1)
• Raw mussels and raw mussel meat (No. 5.5)
• Raw or cooked crustaceans, chilled and frozen products (No. 5.6)
• Instant products (No. 6.2)
• Deli salads (No. 8.1)

Change of the Preamble
 
To clarify the handling of published drafts, the preamble has been supplemented as follows:
“Until the conclusion of the consultation and publication of the recommendation at Beuth Verlag, the drafts are not intended for use as a basis for assessment.”
 
For this reason, we at BAV will only update the relevant test plans upon publication of the recommendations by Beuth Verlag. The guideline and warning values from drafts will thus no longer be used as an assessment basis, but only the values of the recommendations.
 
We would also like to inform you that starting October 2024, we will change the presentation of the results regarding examinations according to DGHM recommendations for formal reasons.
 
As our managing director Paul Andrei is a member of the working group “Microbiological Guideline and Warning Values for Food of the DGHM e.V.”, we are always up to date on these topics.
For questions, we are very happy to assist you.