Commercial aseptic testing of canned food

In order to standardize the safety of canned food, China has developed a special testing standard GB4789.26-2013 "National Food Safety Standard - Microbiological Testing of Food - Commercial Sterility Testing" for microbial testing of canned food. The principle of commercial aseptic testing in the standard is to keep canned food at a specific temperature for ten days. During the insulation process, microorganisms inside the canned food that have not been fully killed will utilize the nutrients of the canned food itself for growth and reproduction, resulting in changes in pH value, gas production, and sensory changes (appearance, color, odor, etc.) of the product. Clear microbial proliferation can be observed through smear staining microscopy. Canned food that has been tested for insulation and shows signs of obesity or leakage, abnormal sensory inspection, significant changes in pH value, and significant microbial proliferation during smear microscopy is considered non commercial sterile. Production enterprises can also conduct inoculation and cultivation by analyzing the abnormal causes in Appendix B of the standard, confirming the microbial flora, identifying the causes of canned food spoilage, and identifying any omissions in the production process.

4、 Precautions

When conducting commercial aseptic testing of canned goods, the following points should be noted:

The inspection sampling method in the commercial sterile standard GB4789.26 of version 1.2003 is not reflected in GB4789.26-2013. In actual operation, production enterprises can formulate commercial sterile inspection sampling methods for enterprise products based on specific conditions such as sterilization methods, variety specifications, batch size, etc., referring to the sampling methods specified in the 2003 version of the standard, to ensure that the inspection samples are representative.

During the insulation process, the condition of the samples should be checked daily. If a can is found to be abnormal or gradually bulging, information should be recorded in a timely manner. As the cultivation time increases, the swelling phenomenon that occurs in canned food no longer develops. The contents of the canned food are taken out for sensory inspection, pH measurement, smear staining, and microscopic examination (sterile operation required). All other normal cans will be removed after 10 days.

3. After opening, take out 30mL (g) of sterile solution and put it into a sterile container (note that sterile operation is necessary). Store it in a refrigerator at 2 ° C~5 ° C for future use. Discard the batch of samples after reaching an inspection conclusion.