We are pleased to inform you that the revision of EURL Lm Guidance document on the competence of laboratories implementing shelf-life studies (Version 3 – 10 February 2023) has been adopted by EC Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) at its meeting of 10 February 2023.

This version is available on the DG SANTE website: link. You will be able to find also this link at the end of EURL Lm homepage: “Guidance documents”.

This is the end of a revision cycle:

• started with the publication in 2019 of the first CEN ISO standard on shelf-life studies: EN ISO 20976-1 "Microbiology of the food chain - Requirements and guidelines for conducting challenge tests of food and feed products - Part 1: Challenge tests to study growth potential, lag time and maximum growth rate". EURL Lm had contributed to the development of the Standard through the WG19 "Guidelines for conducting challenge tests" of the ISO/TC 34/SC 9.

• Continued by the revision of the EURL Lm Technical Guidance Document Lm shelf-life studies endorsed by the member states on 01/07/2021: link.

Many thanks once more to the representatives of 6 NRLs Lm which have collaborated with Hélène BERGIS and Ludivine BONANNO to draft this document.