Characteristics of microbial contamination of animal raw materials and products in the Russian Federation from 2015 to 2018

Abstract

To date, there is a whole system of legal documents, regulating food security issues in the Russian Federation. Monitoring of food quality and safety is performed on the federal level, on the level of the Russian Federation Subjects and on the municipal level based on the developed and adopted regulatory and methodical documents. The paper presents the analysis of ASSOL information system data related to microbial contamination of animal raw materials and products, collected within the following official activities: “Laboratory Testing within Official Monitoring of Food Safety and Quality” and “Laboratory Testing of Animal Raw Materials and Products, Feed and Biological Materials for the Purposes of Food Safety and Quality Assurance”. Microbiological test data were obtained from 37 Russian laboratories, subordinate to the Rosselkhoznadzor, within 2015–2018. The analysis performed showed that the maximum number of tests was performed for the following pathogenic microorganisms: Salmonella bacteria (29.5% within official monitoring and 26.8% within official programme). The highest number of non-compliances within monitoring was revealed when testing for total viable count (total mesophilic anaerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms) – 14.8% and Coliforms – 8.98%; within the official programme most violations were related to yeast (18.8%), yeasts and molds (18.5%) and TVC (12.4%). The parameters, showing less than 1% of positives within official programme testing, were identified. They include Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Proteus bacteria and sulphite-reducing clostridia. The necessity in further tests for safety and quality of animal raw materials and products in the Russian Federation was justified.