Microbiological risk assessment in Europe: the next decade

Under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures that came into force in 1995, it was stipulated that all World Trade Organisation (WTO) members are required to ensure that their sanitary and phytosanitary measures are based on assessment of the risks to human, animal or plant life or health. In doing so, they must take into account risk assessment techniques developed by relevant international organisations. WHO and FAO are two such international organisations that are of very high standard and influence. Their executive body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has developed the concept of Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA) in a wider framework called Risk Analysis. The aim of Risk Analysis is to provide a global standard for the interpretation of the acceptability of risks associated to foods to which consumers might be exposed. Microbiological Risk Assessment is an essential element of Risk Analysis because it specifies risks related to pathogenic micro-organisms in the food chain on the basis of sound science, combining qualitative and quantitative data in the areas of epidemiology and pathogenicity of micro-organisms with food production and handling. The concept is still in its infancy but is gaining wide acceptance globally. This paper will describe an inventory of MRA developments in Europe carried out under auspicion of the European Commission. It also gives the results of a literature survey concerning scientific publications on the topic MRA in which the activities in Europe are compared to those elsewhere.