Microbiological risk assessment: a new approach to food safety control.

The food industry is continually looking to be innovative in the development and production of food. New techniques are also being employed to distribute the food, and even the way the consumer treats the food before consumption has changed dramatically over recent years, for example, with the development of microwavable meals. These changes can lead to differences in the pathogens encountered and the general level of immunity in the population. This in turn puts increased emphasis on food producers to know and understand more about the pathogens likely to occur in the products they are making and their origin. To help food manufacturers tackle this consistently, Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA) is being applied as a systematic tool to allow effective decisions to be made to reduce the impact of pathogens on health.