Chilled food sector celebrates relaxation of US listeria policy

The chilled food industry is celebrating a landmark victory that took two decades to achieve and opens up fresh opportunities for exports to the US.

The US has finally agreed to abandon rigid adherence to a zero tolerance policy for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) contamination of imported chilled ready-to-eat foods after exhaustive campaigning by the Chilled Food Association (CFA).

EU processors operate a risk-based policy allowing up to 100 colony-forming units of Lm/g to be present in food and the UK couples this with the safety measure of shorter shelf-lives.

But traditionally, US policy meant even the tiniest amount of Lm contamination in food from Europe resulted in an outright ban. The Scottish salmon industry was badly hit by this five years ago.

As a consequence of the US position, exports of ready-to-eat foods from the UK and the rest of Europe to the US have dwindled in the past 19 years. "This has opened a window of opportunity," said CFA secretary general Kaarin Goodburn. The CFA compiled evidence from 339,000 sample points to substantiate its case.

Goodburn said: "After several years' work and a particularly demanding last 12 months co-ordinating, briefing and lobbying in the UK, EU and internationally, providing key arguments and vital hard data to support the EU approach, I am delighted the Lm microbiological criteria for ready-to-eat foods was agreed in Guatemala at the UN Codex [Alimentarius] Hygiene Committee meeting, with the EU approach accommodated and zero tolerance rejected as the sole approach to criteria for foods supporting the growth of Lm."

The CFA's stance was supported by EU member states and New Zealand.

"Several delegates commented to me that, until the EU pulled together its strategy [on preventing the spread of Lm in food] in the last year or so, the issue could not have been resolved," said Goodburn.

The decision is expected to be ratified at a UN Codex Alimentarius committee meeting in the summer of 2009. However, some countries are pushing for higher Lm tolerances, which could stir up future controversy.

"The document was not unchallenged, with even the limit for 100 Lm/g in foods being argued to be too stringent by Mexico with the support of a number of Latin American countries," said Goodburn.

While she admitted that the US could reverse its change of heart in the meantime, she said: "It's unlikely - there would be a massive loss of face."