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A risk-based approach was used to develop guidance to be followed by food business operators (FBOs) when deciding on food information relating to storage conditions and/or time limits for consumption after opening a food package and thawing of frozen foods. After opening the package, contamination may occur, introducing new pathogens into the food and the intrinsic (e.g. pH and a(w)), extrinsic (e.g. temperature and gas atmosphere) and implicit (e.g. interactions with competing background microbiota) factors may change, affecting microbiological food safety. Setting a time limit for consumption after opening the package (secondary shelf-life) is complex in view of the many influencing factors and information gaps. A decision tree (DT) was developed to assist FBOs in deciding whether the time limit for consumption after opening, due to safety reasons, is potentially shorter than the initial 'best before' or 'use by' date of the product in its unopened package. For products where opening the package leads to a change of the type of pathogenic microorganisms present in the food and/or factors increasing their growth compared to the unopened product, a shorter time limit for consumption after opening would be appropriate. Freezing prevents the growth of pathogens, however, most pathogenic microorganisms may survive frozen storage, recover during thawing and then grow and/or produce toxins in the food, if conditions are favourable. Moreover, additional contamination may occur from hands, contact surfaces or contamination from other foods and utensils. Good practices for thawing should, from a food safety point of view, minimise growth of and contamination by pathogens between the food being thawed and other foods and/or contact surfaces, especially when removing the food from the package during thawing. Best practices for thawing foods are presented to support FBOs. (C) 2021 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) provides independent scientific advice to the EU risk managers in relation to legislation and policies in all fields which have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety. The EFSA Scientific Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ Panel) provides independent scientific advice on biological hazards in relation to food safety and food-borne diseases. This paper aims to give an overview of the recent EFSA BIOHAZ Panel activities that used predictive microbiology. In four scientific outputs (three opinions and one report), bacterial growth during storage of meat and pre-packed fishery products was predicted using available predictive microbiology models and software. In another scientific opinion, a predictive model for thermal destruction of viruses was developed and further used to evaluate heat treatments that could be applied to live bivalve molluscs to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms. It is concluded that predictive microbiology has great value in risk assessment and in risk-based food safety management.

The Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) is a scientific panel of the European Food Safety Authority that provides independent advice and performs risk assessment (RA) on biological hazards in the food and feed chain. The scientific outputs carried out during 2012–2016, covering a wide range of biological hazards for food safety, are presented in this review. The RA methodology applied by BIOHAZ Panel has evolved overtime, and varies from structured qualitative RA to the application of quantitative microbiological RA whenever possible and appropriate. Some of the future challenges envisaged include the new risks due to changes in food consumption and habits, the use of molecular typing methods for RA and the improvement in methodology via enhanced data collection for RA and integration of new methodologies.

In 2017, EFSA published a ‘simplified’ food safety management system (FSMS) for certain small retail establishments (butcher, grocer, baker, fish and ice cream shop) based on the application of prerequisite programme (PRP) criteria. The aim of this opinion was to develop similar FSMSs for other small retail enterprises including retail distribution centres, supermarkets, restaurants (including pubs and other catering activities) and food donation. The latter presents several novel food safety challenges because donated food may be nearing the end of its shelf‐life and several actors are involved in the food donation chain, each reliant on each other to assure food safety. In this opinion, the simplified approach to food safety management is presented based on a fundamental understanding of processing stages and the activities contributing to increased occurrence of the hazards (biological, chemical (including allergens) or physical) that may occur. Control is achieved using PRP activities as previously described but with a modified ‘temperature control’ PRP and the addition of PRPs covering shelf‐life control, handling returned foods, shelf‐life evaluation for food donation, allocation of remaining shelf‐life, and freezing food intended for donation. Examples of the simplified approach are presented for retail distribution centres, supermarkets, restaurants and food donation. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

At EU level, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the body responsible for risk assessment in the field of food and feed safety. Following a request from European Union (EU) risk managers, the EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) provided, for the first time, two EU-wide farm-to-fork quantitative microbiological risk assessments (QMRA), with regard to Salmonella in slaughter and breeder pigs and Campylobacter in broilers. The Scientific Opinion on a QMRA of Salmonella in pigs represented a major step forward in terms of modelling from farm to consumption as it took into account the variability between and within EU Member States. This QMRA model was developed to estimate the prevalence of infection/contamination and the microbial load from the farm to the point of consumption (exposure) and then estimating the probability of infection. It was used to investigate the effect of interventions to control Salmonella in pigs at different points of the food chain and resulted in a hierarchy of suggested on farm and slaughterhouse control measures, with estimates of the reduction of human cases. To model the effect of interventions from farm to fork on the incidence of human campylobacteriosis, a QMRA model was developed and used in the framework of the Scientific Opinion on a QMRA of Campylobacter in broiler meat. Reductions to the public health risk of campylobacteriosis could be achieved through a variety of interventions, both in primary production or at the slaughterhouse, with different impacts. Reductions of public health risk using targets at primary production or microbiological criteria were also estimated through modelling using additional models. QMRA of food-borne pathogens at European level has proven a useful/good tool to enable risk managers to evaluate the feasibility and the cost-benefit ratio of introducing control measures and targets to further protect public health of European consumers.