Validation of hazard control measures is an important requirement of food safety management systems, and FSMA is amplifying the urgency of such validations. However, the vast majority of prior work and information available has focused primarily on reduction and control of microbial pathogens via thermal processes. In contrast, criteria for the design, execution, and interpretation of validation studies for non-traditional/non-thermal controls often are unclear or simply unavailable. A wide-range of products are subjected to process steps that provide pathogen reduction by solely non-thermal means, such as high-pressure processing, varied wavelength light exposure, and/or radio frequency treatment. This session discusses approaches to validation of a selection of non-thermal control measures.

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