Evaluating the effectiveness of pasteurization for reducing human illnesses from Salmonella spp. in egg products: results of a quantitative risk assessment.

As part of the process for developing risk-based performance standards for egg product processing, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) undertook a quantitative microbial risk assessment for Salmonella spp. in pasteurized egg products. The assessment was designed to assist risk managers in evaluating egg handling and pasteurization performance standards for reducing the likelihood of Salmonella in pasteurized egg products and the subsequent risk to human health.

Overview and summary of the Food Safety and Inspection Service risk assessment for Salmonella enteritidis in shell eggs, October 2005.

In 1998, the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration completed a risk assessment that indicated multiple interventions along the farm-to-table chain were needed to reduce the risk of human illness from Salmonella Enteritidis in shell eggs. Based on newly available data and improved modeling techniques, FSIS completed an updated risk assessment to examine the effect of pasteurization and refrigeration on reducing human illnesses from S. Enteritidis in shell eggs.

Discerning strain effects in microbial dose-response data.

In order to estimate the risk or probability of adverse events in risk assessment, it is necessary to identify the important variables that contribute to the risk and provide descriptions of distributions of these variables for well-defined populations. One component of modeling dose response that can create uncertainty is the inherent genetic variability among pathogenic bacteria. For many microbial risk assessments, the "default" assumption used for dose response does not account for strain or serotype variability in pathogenicity and virulence, other than perhaps, recognizing the existence of avirulent strains.

Sensitivity analysis of Salmonella enteritidis levels in contaminated shell eggs using a biphasic growth model.

Salmonella enteritidis (SE) is a common foodbome pathogen, the transmission of which is primarily associated with the consumption of contaminated Grade A shell eggs. In order to estimate the level of SE present in raw shell eggs, it is necessary to consider the protective effects of the egg albumin, which effectively inhibits SE growth in a time- and temperature-dependent manner. In this study, a SE growth model was produced by combining two mathematical equations that described both the extended lag phase of SE growth (food component) and a SE growth model (pathogen component).