On 21 November 2024, the Official Journal of the European Union published Regulation (EU) No. 2024/2895 amending the requirements relating to Listeria monocytogenes in food as set out in entry 1.2 of Chapter 1 (Food Safety Standards) of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No. 2073/2005; the new requirements are effective from 1 July 2026 onwards. The Regulation entered into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The contents before and after the amendment are shown in the table below.

(*1)  This criterion shall apply if the producing food business operator has been able to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the competent authority, that the level of L. monocytogenes will not exceed the limit 100 cfu/g throughout the shelf-life of the food. The operator may fix intermediate limits during the process that must be low enough to guarantee that the limit of 100 cfu/g is not exceeded at the end of shelf-life of the food.

(*2)  1 ml of inoculum is plated on a Petri dish of 140 mm diameter or on three Petri dishes of 90 mm diameter.

(*3)  This criterion shall apply where the producing food business operator has not been able to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the competent authority, that the level of L. monocytogenes will not exceed the limit of 100 cfu/g throughout the shelf-life of the food.’

Learn more: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AL_202402895&qid=1728544958646