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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 4996-5004, Vol. 73, No. 15
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00245-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Probabilistic Modeling Approach for Evaluating the Compliance of Ready-To-Eat Foods with New European Union Safety Criteria for Listeria monocytogenes{triangledown}

Konstantinos Koutsoumanis1* and Apostolos S. Angelidis2

Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece,1 Laboratory of Milk Hygiene and Technology, Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece2

Received 31 January 2007/ Accepted 4 June 2007

Among the new microbiological criteria that have been incorporated in EU Regulation 2073/2005, of particular interest are those concerning Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to eat (RTE) foods, because for certain food categories, they no longer require zero tolerance but rather specify a maximum allowable concentration of 100 CFU/g or ml. This study presents a probabilistic modeling approach for evaluating the compliance of RTE sliced meat products with the new safety criteria for L. monocytogenes. The approach was based on the combined use of (i) growth/no growth boundary models, (ii) kinetic growth models, (iii) product characteristics data (pH, aw, shelf life) collected from 160 meat products from the Hellenic retail market, and (iv) storage temperature data recorded from 50 retail stores in Greece. This study shows that probabilistic analysis of the above components using Monte Carlo simulation, which takes into account the variability of factors affecting microbial growth, can lead to a realistic estimation of the behavior of L. monocytogenes throughout the food supply chain, and the quantitative output generated can be further used by food managers as a decision-making tool regarding the design or modification of a product's formulation or its "use-by" date in order to ensure its compliance with the new safety criteria. The study also argues that compliance of RTE foods with the new safety criteria should not be considered a parameter with a discrete and binary outcome because it depends on factors such as product characteristics, storage temperature, and initial contamination level, which display considerable variability even among different packages of the same RTE product. Rather, compliance should be expressed and therefore regulated in a more probabilistic fashion.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece. Phone: 30 2310 991647. Fax: 30 2310 991647. E-mail: kkoutsou{at}agro.auth.gr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 June 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 4996-5004, Vol. 73, No. 15
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00245-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kagkli, D.-M., Iliopoulos, V., Stergiou, V., Lazaridou, A., Nychas, G.-J. (2009). Differential Listeria monocytogenes Strain Survival and Growth in Katiki, a Traditional Greek Soft Cheese, at Different Storage Temperatures. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 3621-3626 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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