A quantitative risk metric to support individual sanitary measure reviews in international trade.

In order for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to make an equivalence determination for a foreign meat, poultry or egg products inspection procedure that differs from FSIS inspection procedures (an Individual Sanitary Measure or ISM), a country must demonstrate objectively that its food safety inspection system provides the same level of public health protection as the FSIS inspection system. To evaluate microbiological testing data that such countries may submit to this end, we present a possible risk metric to inform FSIS's assessment of whether products produced under an alternative inspection system in another country pose no greater consumer risk of foodborne illness than products produced under FSIS inspection. This metric requires evaluation of prevalence estimates of pathogen occurrence in products for the foreign country and the U.

Food Safety Practices Linked with Proper Refrigerator Temperatures in Retail Delis.

Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) causes the third highest number of foodborne illness deaths annually. L.

Listeria monocytogenes in Retail Delicatessens: An Interagency Risk Assessment-Risk Mitigations.

Cross-contamination, improper holding temperatures, and insufficient sanitary practices are known retail practices that may lead to product contamination and growth of Listeria monocytogenes. However, the relative importance of control options to mitigate the risk of invasive listeriosis from ready-to-eat (RTE) products sliced or prepared at retail is not well understood. This study illustrates the utility of a quantitative risk assessment model described in a first article of this series (Pouillot, R.

Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria spp. contamination patterns in retail delicatessen establishments in three U.S. states.

Postprocessing contamination in processing plants has historically been a significant source of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat delicatessen meats, and therefore a major cause of human listeriosis cases and outbreaks. Recent risk assessments suggest that a majority of human listeriosis cases linked to consumption of contaminated deli meats may be due to L. monocytogenes contamination that occurs at the retail level.

Review of various approaches for assessing public health risks in regulatory decision making: choosing the right approach for the problem.

Stakeholders in the public health risk analysis community can possess differing opinions about what is meant by "conduct a risk assessment." In reality, there is no one-size-fits-all risk assessment that can address all public health issues, problems, and regulatory needs. Although several international and national organizations (e.

Application of quantitative microbial risk assessments for estimation of risk management metrics: Clostridium perfringens in ready-to-eat and partially cooked meat and poultry products as an example.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service is exploring quantitative risk assessment methodologies to incorporate the use of the Codex Alimentarius' newly adopted risk management metrics (e.