Processed meat

All biosecurity requirements must be met before Imported Food Inspection Scheme requirements apply.

Check our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) for biosecurity import conditions.

We classify imported food that presents a potential medium or high risk to public health as risk food. All risk food is listed in the Imported Food Control Order 2019.

Processed meat that is cooked and ready-to-eat is classified as risk food

This includes foods such as:

meat pastes and pâté
cooked sausages
other cooked processed meat products containing at least 300 g/kg meat.

Exclusions

Food that is retorted and shelf stable, or dried.
Food from New Zealand.

Community Protection (CP) questions

You may need to answer these CP questions when lodging your full import declaration:

IFIS: Are the goods cooked and processed meat that require refrigeration (chilled or frozen) and do not require further cooking?

IFIS: Do the goods contain beef meat, bone or offal as an ingredient (not including gelatine or collagen) or greater than 30% beef fat or tallow?

IFIS: Are the goods cooked poultry meat that is chilled or frozen and is ready to eat?

Inspection and testing

We refer consignments of processed meat that is cooked and ready-to-eat for analytical testing. During inspection, we will also conduct a visual and label assessment.

Additional requirements apply to beef and beef products.

Table 1 shows the test that will be applied and permitted result.

Testing for Listeria monocytogenes applies at a rate based on the compliance history of the particular food.

Testing for Salmonella applies at the rate of 5%.

Table 1, Test applied and permitted result

Test applied	Permitted result
Listeria monocytogenes	n=5, c=0, m= not detected in 25 g
Salmonella	n=5, c=0, m= not detected in 25 g

n = the number of samples to be analysed from a lot of food.
c = the maximum number of sample units that can be greater than ‘m’.
m = the acceptable microbiological level in a sample unit.

Food safety risks

Food Standard Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has given us advice about the risk of cooked processed ready-to-eat meat. These products present a potential medium or high risk to public health and safety for Listeria monocytogenes.

Glossary

Processed meat means a food that:

has, either singly or in combination with other foods, undergone a method of processing other than boning, slicing, dicing, mincing or freezing; and
contains no less than 300g per 1kg of meat.

Ready-to-eat

Food is ready-to-eat if it is ordinarily consumed in the same state as that in which it is sold.

To avoid doubt, food is not ordinarily consumed in the same state as that in which it is sold if, before it is consumed, it requires further processing (such as cooking) to reduce any pathogenic microorganisms potentially present in the food to safe levels.

Retorted

Animal products are retorted if they are heated in a hermetically sealed container to a minimum core temperature of 100°C, obtaining an F⁰ value of at least 2.8.

Shelf stable

Goods are shelf stable if the:

goods have been commercially manufactured
goods have been packaged by the manufacturer
goods are in that package
package has not been opened or broken
goods are able to be stored in the package at room or ambient temperature, and
goods do not require refrigeration or freezing before the package is opened.

Version history

Date	Reference number	Amendment details
24/05/2023	CMP 05/2023	Amended to include reference to additional requirements for beef and beef products.
30/11/2016	CMP 11/2016	Updated requirements following risk advice provided to the department by FSANZ
01/05/2014	CMP 05/2014	Replaces Imported Food Notice 09/12 Tests applied to risk category foods

Processed meat - cooked