Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies a method for the enumeration of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in organic fertilizers, organo-mineral fertilizers, inorganic fertilizers which contain more than 1 % by mass of organic carbon, other than organic carbon from chelating or complexing agents, nitrification inhibitors, denitrification inhibitors or urease inhibitors, coating agents, urea or calcium cyanamide [1]. The method is tested for solid and liquid products.

This document is applicable to the fertilizing products blends where a blend is a mix of at least two of the following components: Fertilizers, Liming Materials, Soil Improvers, Growing Media, Inhibitors, Plant Biostimulants, and where the following category: organic fertilizers, organo- mineral fertilizers, inorganic fertilizer is the highest % in the blend by mass or volume, or in the case of liquid form by dry mass. If the organic fertilizer, the organo-mineral fertilizer or the inorganic fertilizer is not the highest % in the blend, the European Standard for the highest % of the blend applies. In case a fertilizing product blend is composed of components in equal quantity, the user decides which standard to apply.

Strains of E. coli which do not grow at 44 °C and, in particular, those that are β-D-glucuronidase negative, such as E. coli O157, will not be detected. Some genera within the family Enterobacteriaceae, in particular Shigella spp. and Salmonella spp., can also show β-D- glucuronidase activity at 44 °C.

NOTE: This method has been validated in an interlaboratory study with specific products that were present on the market during the study.

Purpose

Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 on fertilizing products includes requirements for organic and organo- mineral fertilizers. Appropriate methods are necessary to verify the conformity of CE-marked fertilizing products to the requirements of the Regulation.

 The European Standard on “Organic, organo-mineral and inorganic fertilizers - Enumeration of Escherichia coli” describes the test methods to be applied for verifying the conformity of organic, organo-mineral and inorganic fertilizers with the requirements set out in Regulation (EU) 2019/1009.

This method is intended to be referred to in the harmonized standard “Organic, Organo-mineral fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers – Detection of specific pathogens” in the framework of standardization request M/564.