MILK STANDORT GERMANY - A CRITICAL DISCUS SION BY CONSIDERING HYGIENIC-QUALITATIVE ASPECTS

The hygienic-qualitative requirements to be met by raw milk, heat trea ted milk and products made from milk are laid down in the Directive 92 /46/EEC (EC Milk Hygiene Directive). For the dairy industry in the Fed eral Republic of Germany the regulations concerning quality assurance by considering in particular Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points ( HACCP) include new elements wich are in many respects critically impor tant for competition. The internal controls concern. Detection of the critical points and their control, Determination of monitoring- and co ntrol methods, Sampling and preserving of records and Advising of the competent authority in the case of health measures taken. The measures taken by the enterprise must be carried out in close collaboration wi th the competent authority which is responsible for the ''control of i nternal control''. From the hygienic point of view further activities must, besides general efforts, be pursued in the following areas for a ssuring the production ''standort'' Germany: reduction of the somatic cell contents in milk by appropriate measures of hygiene management an d mastitis control, improvement of the measurement of non-pathogenic ( saprophytic) bacteria in raw milk and defined milk products (e.g. high ly resistant sporeformers in UHT milk), development of a system for co ntrolling residues (in particular animal drugs (antibiotics, sulfonami des, ''inhibitors'')). Further, the control of Listeria- and Salmonell a problems, the development of suitable methods for detecting pathogen ic and toxigenic Staphylococcus aureus- and Escherichia coli-strains, as well as the assessment of the situation and the carry-over conditio ns as regards important contaminants have to be pointed out. The Germa ny dairy industry is, from the viewpoint of competition, best protecte d, if high hygienic-qualitative standards are observed or achieved. In this connection, one has to emphasize the requirements for internatio nal collaboration, e.g., with IDF, Codex Alimentarius etc.