Sanitary survey af produktionsområder i Løgstør Bredning

According to the Regulation for food products of animal origin (Europa Parlamentets og Rådets Forordning (EF) Nr. 854), microbiological classification of production areas for live bivalve mollusks etc.3 and the associated sampling plan are required to be based on a so-called ‘sanitary surveys’. A sanitary survey is an assessment of the interactions between potential sources of microbial pollution, climate conditions and oceanography in the area. The EU Commission guidance for making a sanitary survey formed the basis for this report. However, in certain cases, the Danish practice for microbiological sampling frequency and classification made previously on the basis of this, as described in ‘muslingebekendtgørelsen’ is summarized in Appendix 13. The report covers production areas (P)16, P33, P34, P35, P36, P37, P38 and P39 in Løgstør Broads. These production areas coincide currently with the algae area A6. For editorial reasons, the production areas are regarded under one term “Løgstør Broads’, knowing that the production areas also include other bordering geographical areas. The covered production areas within Løgstør Broads are marked as A6 The report recommends a microbiological sampling plan consisting of recommended selected sampling points and sampling frequencies for individual production areas. It is further discussed whether merging of production areas into fewer production areas could be considered in the future. This merge would then reduce the number of sampling points, without compromising food safety. The report is supported by public assessible data from monitoring of microbiological contamination in Løgstør Broads, where the concentration of E. coli is determined in samples of mussels, etc. taken at fixed sampling points. The Danish monitoring of production areas for live bivalve mollusks offers generally a solid set of historical data of E. coli concentrations in clams etc. collected from the positions where mussels have been harvested in the past in Løgstør Broads. The key data set used is the classification of production areas based on samples taken during the past 10 years (2007-2016). Within this data set, 99.2 % of a total of 908 samples contain E. coli A level (<230 E. coli/100 g), and 0 % of a total of 350 samples contain Salmonella. In summary, the sanitary survey of Løgstør Broads identifies an area that in general is a microbial homogeneous, stable and microbiologically clean area, and only rare occurrence of critical microbial contamination were found.