Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the microbial risk of foodborne illness of Escherichia coli be consuming various cheeses in entire food chain.
Methods: To identify the hazards of E. coli, literatures and foodborne outbreaks linked to E. coli were reviewed. In hazard characterization, the probabilities of distribution for storage temperature and time during cheese distribution and dose response models for E. coli were searched. The consumption pattern for cheese was also investigated. For exposure assessment, the contamination level of E. coli on cheeses was evaluated along with a cheese supply chain, and maximum specific growth rate (µmax; log CFU/g/h) and lag phase duration (LPD; h) were calculated with predictive models developed in other studies. Subsequently, simulation models were developed, and the probabilities of illness per person a day were calculated.
Results: Hazard of E. coli in cheese was identified, and consumption cheese pattern was collected, and the prevalence of E. coli was determined to be very low along with cheese supply chain. Predictive models estimated that the µmax and LPD of natural cheese were 0.0-0.94 log CFU/g/h and 5.40-1320.0 h, and µmax and LPD of processed cheese were 0.0-0.33 log CFU/g/h and 1.79-1320.0 h, respectively. A simulation model developed with the results of hazard identification, exposure assessment, and hazard characterization estimated the mean probabilities of illness per person a day to be 1.36úI10-7 and 2.12úI10-10 for natural and processed cheeses, respectively.
Significance: These results should be useful in providing the scientific data for establishing microbial criteria for E. coli in cheeses.