Dar seafood ppp standard

Prawns – cooked

Prawns are often cooked on board the trawler or upon landing. They may also be peeled and possibly deveined, either mechanically or by hand. The cooking process does not significantly alter the concentrations of chemical hazards but should eliminate microbial pathogens if sufficient time is allowed. However, the potential for post-cooking recontamination of a product that is sold as ready-to-eat seafood and thus may undergo no further cooking, and which has a shelf life of several days, must be considered.

Sources of potential contamination of cooked prawns include estuarine or marine water used to cool the prawns, the ice or brine used to chill them, and contamination by food handlers and equipment. Insufficient cooking time and post-process time–temperature abuse may lead to higher counts of microbial pathogens. Hazards of concern are vibrios, L. monocytogenes and enteric pathogens including viruses. A significant proportion of outbreaks linked to cooked crustacea have been attributed to enteric bacterial pathogens [47].
The likelihood of adverse health effects due to certain hazards in cooked prawns must, therefore, be considered greater than for green prawns, which will be cooked before consumption. However, there are only limited data to support such a conclusion. One survey of L. monocytogenes in cooked prawns [48] detected low counts in 3 per cent of cooked prawns at retail. The samples included peeled and whole, chilled and frozen, local and imported cooked prawns. These data were included in a FSANZ risk assessment which concluded there was a very low risk of contracting listeriosis from cooked prawns in Australia [49]. Epidemiological evidence (Appendix 2; [19]) does provide some support, with recent outbreaks of hepatitis A, S. Typhi, S. Typhimurium and two outbreaks of V. parahaemolyticus being attributed to cooked (imported) prawns (Appendix 2).
Given the limited data, adverse health effects due to these hazards are considered to be unlikely, with the exception of V. parahaemolyticus, for which adverse health effects are considered more likely – an assumption supported by the epidemiological evidence.