Government of Canada
Symbol of the Government of Canada
Skip to content | Skip to institutional links

Common menu bar links

Food > Fish and Seafood > Product Inspection > Standards and Methods Manual

Institutional links

Appendix 2
Bacteriological Guidelines for Fish and Fish Products

PDF (51 kb)

Test Organism1 Product Type Number of sample units Acceptance number (c)2 m/g2 M/g2 Criteria for action
Escherichia coli Cooked or ready- to-eat products 5 1 4 40 Reject if 2 or more units exceed m, or if any unit exceeds M
Escherichia coli Raw molluscan shellfish 5 1 230/100 g 330/100 g Reject if 2 or more units exceed m, or if any unit exceeds M
Escherichia coli All other types 5 2 4 40 Reject if 3 or more units exceed m, or if any unit exceeds M
Coagulase-Positive Staphylococci All types 5 1 1000 10000 Reject if 2 or more units exceed m, or if any unit exceeds M
Salmonella spp All types 5 Absent in each 25 g sample or in pooled samples of 125 g.     Reject if Salmonella spp is detected
Vibrio cholerae Cooked or ready- to-eat products 5 Absent in each 25 g sample or in pooled samples of 125 g     Reject if Vibrio cholerae is detected.

1 The analysis of all fish or fishery products shall be conducted in accordance with approved methods
2 m - number of bacteria per gram separating acceptable from marginally acceptable samples, c - number of samples that may exceed this number of bacteria per gram, M - no sample can exceed this number of bacteria per gram

Listeria monocytogenes
(From Health Canada's Policy on listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Foods, available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/)

Product Type Laboratory method to be applied Unsatisfactory if:

Lower risk RTE fish product
A fish product that was processed in an establishment that meets the FIR (i.e., all federally registered plants that are not undergoing investigation, suspension or revocation) AND that:

  • is refrigerated with a shelf-life less than or equal to 10 days, OR
  • is frozen, OR
  • has a pH < 5.0, OR
  • has an aw less than or equal to.92, OR
  • has a pH < 5.5 AND an aw < .95

(Equivalent to Category 3 products with adequate GMPs in HC policy)

 Enumeration
(MFLP-74* or equivalent) on 5 sample units		 > 100 cfu/g*
*as per method reporting limit
Cold-smoked rainbow trout with a refrigerated shelf-life > 10 days
Synonymous names for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) include: deep sea trout, steelhead trout and steelhead salmon.
(Equivalent to Category 1 products)		 Presence/absence in 50 g
(MFHPB-30 or equivalent) on 5 sample units		 Detected in 50 g
All other RTE fish products
(Equivalent to Category 2 products and Category 3 products with inadequate, absent or no information on GMPs)		 Presence/absence in 25 g
(MFHPB-30 or equivalent) on 5 sample units		 Detected in 25 g

Next page: Appendix 3 | Previous page: Appendix 1


Top of Page
Important Notices