Poultry pâté and poultry livers

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.

Poultry pâté and poultry livers that are cooked and ready-to-eat are classified as risk food

This includes cooked poultry pâté, poultry pastes and poultry livers that are ready-to-eat.

Poultry includes fowls, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, pheasants, quails, guinea fowls, muttonbirds and other avian species ordinarily consumed as food by humans. It does not include ratites (for example, emus and ostriches).

Exclusions

• Poultry pâté and poultry liver that is retorted and shelf stable, or dried.
• Food from New Zealand.

Inspection and testing

We refer consignments of poultry pâté and poultry livers that are cooked and ready-to-eat for analytical testing. During inspection, we will also conduct a visual and label assessment.

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

Table 1, Test applied and permitted result

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 ready-to-eat cooked poultry pâté and poultry livers. These products present a potential medium or high risk to public health for Listeria monocytogenes.

Glossary

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 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.

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