4th meeting of the working group in charge of the revision of the DG SANCO guidance on Lm shelf-life studies for RTE foods

In order to assist Food Business Operators (FBOs) producing RTE foods to comply with (EC) Regulation No 2073/2005, former DG SANCO developed and made available in 2008 a Guidance Document on Lm shelf-life studies for RTE foods, designated as “draft”. This document may also be used by Competent Authorities to verify the correct implementation of shelf-life studies by FBOs.
Since then, Regulation 2073/2005 has been modified, a new standard on challenge test has been published (EN ISO 20976-1, 2019) and new or revised EURL Lm guidance documents have been released.
It is therefore necessary to update this guidance document and to adopt it formally by PAFF Committee. DG SANTE requested EURL Lm to conduct this revision.

A WG created in 2022 and led by EURL Lm, composed of 16 participants from Competent Authorities, NRLs from 7 EU Member States and Norway is responsible for drafting the new guidance document. It is planned, during its drafting, to keep the Food Business Operators informed of the progress of the document and to collect their opinions to better meet their expectations.

Last week took place the 4th meeting of the working group in Maisons-Alfort.