Description:

The intent of this guidance document is to provide information to food manufacturers producing at-risk foods in facilities where L. monocytogenes is a hazard requiring control measures to prevent food from becoming adulterated. The document provides guidance on designing a Listeria Environmental Monitoring Program (LEMP), which will in turn verify the efficacy of the relevant prerequisite programs (such as sanitation, employee practices and sanitary design, which is discussed in an appendix to the current document). The guidance will discuss the need to conduct investigative sampling and root cause analysis when a potential harborage is identified, including when and how to escalate LEMP activities. Using this “seek and destroy” approach over time with appropriate data analysis and corrective actions will help to reduce the likelihood of product contamination with L. monocytogenes and thus reduce the overall risk to public health.