Ewen C.D. Todd is organizing the symposium "Food Safety and Risk Assessment: New Approaches to Microbiological Problems" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting today in Seattle. Todd emphasizes that microbiological foodborne hazards, such as listeriosis, are cause for concern today, due to many changes:
"Scientific risk-based policy is overtaking the cultural and political debate about food," said Todd, referring to the United States' recent single case of mad cow disease. "Countries are creating policies based on risk, not on culture. The current systems of testing and release of products have not proven very effective in reducing foodborne illness."
Risk assessments are the gathering of quantitative data on the prevalence (whether it occurs) and concentration (how much is present) of foodborne illness for specific foods. Modules from farm to fork help create a mathematical picture about risk for conta
'"/>