Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection and enumeration of Clostridium spp. — Part 3: Detection of Clostridium perfringens

This document specifies the detection of Clostridium (C.) perfringens.

This document is applicable to:

— products intended for human consumption;

— products intended for animal feeding;

— environmental samples in the area of food and feed production and handling;

— samples from the primary production stage.

This horizontal method was originally developed for the examination of all samples belonging to the food chain. Based on the information available at the time of publication of this document, this method is considered to be fully suited to the examination of all samples belonging to the food chain. However, because of the large variety of products in the food chain, it is possible that this horizontal method is not appropriate in every detail for all products. Nevertheless, it is expected that the required modifications are minimized so that they do not result in a significant deviation from this horizontal method.

NOTE Interlaboratory studies with a small number of participating laboratories (<10) were conducted for the following food categories:

— ready-to-eat, ready-to-reheat meat products;

— eggs and egg products (derivates);

— ready-to-eat, ready-to-reheat fishery