The Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998

Canning

4.  In the case of fishery products which have been subjected to sterilisation in hermetically sealed containers—

(a) the water used for the preparation of cans must be potable water;

(b) the process used for the heat treatment must be appropriate, having regard to such major criteria as the heating time, temperature, filling, size of containers etc., a record of which must be kept; the heat treatment must be capable of destroying or inactivating pathogenic organisms and the spores of pathogenic micro-organisms. The heating equipment must be fitted with devices for verifying whether the containers have in fact undergone appropriate heat treatment. Potable water must be used to cool containers after heat treatment, without prejudice to the presence of any chemical additives used in accordance with good technological practice to prevent corrosion of the equipment and containers;

(c) further checks must be carried out at random by the manufacturer to ensure that the processed products have undergone appropriate heat treatment, viz—

• incubation tests: incubation must be carried out at 37°C for seven days or at 35°C for ten days, or at any other equivalent combination;

• microbiological examination of contents and containers in the establishment’s laboratory or in a laboratory recognised by the food authority;

(d) samples must be taken of production each day at predetermined intervals, to ensure the efficacy of sealing or of any other method of hermetic closure. For that purpose, appropriate equipment must be available for the examination of cross-sections of the can-seams;

(e) checks are carried out in order to ensure that containers are not damaged;

(f) all containers which have undergone heat treatment under practically identical conditions must be given a batch identification mark, in accordance with the Food (Lot Marking) Regulations 1996(1).

(1)

S.I. 1996/1502.