Risk assessment model to spot food contamination
Probabilistic risk assessments, originally developed for the chemicals sector, look set to be increasingly used to determine the risk to the population from the microbiological contamination of certain types of food.
A risk assessment model, for example, has been developed to determine the risk of salmonella contamination in eggs all along the supply chain - from production and retail to preparation and cooking.
The model has proved useful in identifying the key points in the food chain that have the greatest impact on consumers' exposure to salmonella. It has also been used to assess the relative effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the risk of people eating contaminated eggs.
Although the model still requires some further development, if it proves successful this approach could find wider application, an advisory committee to the Food Standards Agency was informed last month.
Dr Rowena Kosmider, who works in the risk analysis workgroup at the Centre for Epidemiology and Risk Analysis at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, outlined to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) how such assessments would work.
The ACMSF's scientific secretary Dr Paul Cook said: "This is a good example of an area that this committee has taken interest in which has been taken further to develop policy."
