Managing microbial hazards in low water activity foods continues to pose a challenge to the food industry. Models in food microbiology can provide useful information for setting performance standards and food safety objectives. The first step is to identify the question that needs to be answered. A modeling approach is, then, selected to quantitatively describe the process. This symposium will provide an introduction to the risks and how to rank microbial hazards in low water activity foods. This will be followed by how to develop and validate models and their use in risk assessment. Finally, the application of models and risk assessment, in an industry setting, and the importance of process validation will be discussed.

Presentations