Non-conformity rate from hygiene regulations in fresh meat-small to mediumsize enterprises, risk assessment and corrective designs

Compliance with hygiene regulations requires significant capital investment s in Austrian fresh meat-small to medium size enterprises, especially since Austrian legislation was nearly completely harmonized with the directive 6 4/433/EC. So far, reliable methods for comparing the various premises were not available. Five slaughtering and five cutting plants were made accessib le voluntarily by their management. Studies were conducted on the non-confo rmity rates of provisions as regards self control, hygienic conditions of t he premises, equipment and tools, personal hygiene in general and hygiene o f specific processes in particular. Veterinary officers used checklists, wh ich referred to recommendation 89/214/EC and added up to 80 pages. Most ans wers could be given in a yes/no-mode, whereas intensity of lighting and air - and water temperatures were measured with luxmeters and officially calibr ated thermometers, respectively. The relative frequency of non-conformities of hygiene-provisions regarding self control was 25 % at best, whilst these frequencies were 10 %, 21 %, 30 % and 9 % for premises/equipment/tools, personal hygiene and specific proc ess hygiene and cutting plant hygiene, respectively. It was established tha t basic elements of a butcher's education and simple hygiene fundamentals w ere not put to practice. The present study on the application of hygiene pr ovisions in ten fresh meat establishments reveals that there is ample room for improvement. The use of complete checklists proved instrumental for our purpose. Most non-conformities do not require major capital investments an d could be remedied by training. Nineteen corrective and preventive measure s are being recommended for this purpose.