Dar seafood ppp standard

4.4.2 Cold-smoked seafood

Ready-to-eat cold-smoked finfish (and other ready-to-eat cold-smoked seafood products) present a higher risk to public health relative to other seafoods due to the possibility of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and the potentially severe illness it causes in at-risk population sub-groups such as pregnant women. L. monocytogenes is a ubiquitous organism often found in processing environments, and may also be present in fish at the time of harvest. Cold smoking is not a listericidal¹⁵ process.

Recognition of the risks by both regulators and the industry has resulted in a high level of management of L. monocytogenes in Australia and a lower risk of illness to the general population. FSANZ has previously recognised the inherent risk to the general population due to L. monocytogenes in cold-smoked seafoods by including a microbiological limit standard for the organism in ‘ready-to-eat processed finfish, other than fully retorted finfish’ in the Code. When the food safety risks are managed such that cold-smoked seafoods meet this regulatory requirement, the relative risk ranking for the general population is low, although the relative risk ranking for susceptible populations (e.g. pregnant women, newborn and young children and the elderly) is high. FSANZ is currently reviewing its dietary advice to these at-risk sub-groups in order to manage their food safety risks due to L. monocytogenes from all food sources.
If the food safety risks are not properly managed, such that cold-smoked seafoods do not meet the microbiological limit standard for L. monocytogenes, the relative risk ranking is high for at-risk sub-groups and medium for the general population.
This takes account of the relatively long shelf life of the product and the high standards of hygiene and sanitation in processing and good temperature controls across the food supply chain, up to and including the consumer, that is required to ensure the safety of the product.