Canadian Butter Recall Sparks Food Safety Fears amongst Chinese Consumers: How is Listeria Contamination Regulated in Chinese Dairy?

Listeria in Butter

Listeria is a pathogen given heightened importance in China due to its potential to cause serious complications in vulnerable populations such as meningitis in infants (3^rd most common cause) and the elderly. The ability of Listeria to grow in comparatively harsh environmental conditions makes Listeria contamination a serious concern during dairy processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation and equipment disinfection (it also readily forms biofilms).

How Butter is regulated in China

China GB Standard 19646-2012 on “Cream, Butter and Anhydrous Milkfat” defines butter as “a product with milk fat content of not less than 80.0%, which is made from milk and (or) cream (fermented or non-fermented), with or without addition of other ingredients, food additives and nutrient fortifiers”.

GB 5420-2010, GB 25192-2010 and GB 29921-2013 mainly set the limited requirements for listeria monocytogenes in cheese, reprocessed cheese, cooked meat products and ready-to-eat meat products, which is n=5，c=0，m=0 CFU/25g (n is the number of samples to be collected for the same batch of products; c is the maximum number of samples that can exceed the m value; m is a limited value for acceptable levels of pathogenic bacteria- from this we can see there is no permitted level of Listeria in cheese etc.)

Chart: related safety standards and regulations about listeria monocytogenes in China