Managing risks from pathogens in the fresh produce chain (on farm, processing, and retail) continues to represent a complex food safety challenge. Pathogen contamination of produce, including products as diverse as leafy greens and tree nuts, may be influenced by complex environmental factors and food safety practices during production, harvesting, processing, and handling subsequent to harvest. On the one hand, microbial risk assessment (MRA) as a tool may be well suited to address complex food safety issues in which quantitative risk models can integrate a multitude of data and information on the pathogen, the food, and the consumer to predict effectiveness of prevention and control practices. On the other hand, to stakeholders (such as industry stakeholders), the information on MRAs that, currently, exists in the public domain is sometimes highly theoretical and very generic; application to each industry sector can be difficult, even though regulatory agencies increasingly use risk assessment to inform decision making, such as in proposing a new standard and drafting guidance to industry. The purpose of this session is to provide a public-private view with speakers from industry, academia, and government. Presentations will include findings of a recent ILSI Europe expert group on industrial MRA in fresh produce, ongoing produce risk assessment designed to inform regulatory decision, and an academic perspective on the latest data collection and risk assessment efforts. This session will aim to provide examples for complex, as well as easy-to-follow and practical risk assessments specific to fresh produce, to inform the audience on the implementation of risk assessment strategies.

Presentations