Using risk assessment principles in an emerging paradigm for controlling the microbial safety of foods.

Instituting controls over pathogenic microorganisms in foods reaches back to the beginnings of civilization with the development of salting, fermenting, drying, and cooking processes. The conceptual ‘’food safety objective’’ equation was proposed to overcome some of the limitations of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan. A bright line focuses on the risk per serving and means that the high doses are always unacceptable, even though they may be very rare. There are several approaches to setting a quantitative appropriate level of protection (ALOP); one begins with the risk manager’s determination that the rate of illness is unacceptably high for a food or class of foods and can be reduced. The decision about an ALOP, of necessity, often focuses on the susceptible human populations. Consumption of foods cannot be easily restricted from certain groups, and the ALOP will need to reflect the more susceptible populations. Traditional assessments of the microbial hazards in foods were based on data for the characteristics of the pathogen, contamination levels, effects of process steps, ability of the pathogen to grow in the food, and the epidemiological record. A dose-response model then relates consumption to the probability of illness or other measure of public health. Thus, the risk assessment links the process parameter values (product pH, storage temperature) to public health (illnesses per serving).