Rosa María García-Gimeno

By Elena Carrasco, Antonio Valero,Fernando Pérez-Rodríguez, Rosa María García-Gimeno and Gonzalo Zurera

Part of the book: Risk Management in Environment, Production and Economy

By Antonio Valero, Magdevis-Yanet Rodríguez, Guiomar Denisse Posada-Izquierdo, Fernando Pérez-Rodríguez, Elena Carrasco and Rosa Maria García-Gimeno

An improvement of food service centers in recent years has been made based on the implementation of the principles of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system. Food safety preventive measures have been focused on training of handlers in hygiene practices and on improving the sanitary quality of meals. In Europe, an increasing trend in foodborne outbreaks has been attributed to catering businesses. This fact highlights that the impact of preventive measures in the past few years has not been sufficiently effective as expected. Special attention should be paid to food services destined to susceptible population, such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, or school canteens, because people could be more susceptible to become ill when exposed to foodborne agents. There are numerous relevant factors influencing microbial contamination of foods, according to the preparation method, hygienic sanitary conditions of catering facilities, or food handling, storage, and distribution. In the present chapter, a review of the most significant risk factors influencing microbial contamination of foods in food service centers are described with special focus on those establishments where susceptible population (i.e., children, elderly, immunocompromised people) is present. Besides, potential preventive measures to be considered in that establishments and correct implementation of food safety actions are given to provide useful recommendations to food handlers, food operators, and risk managers.

Part of the book: Significance, Prevention and Control of Food Related Diseases

By Rosa María García-Gimeno and Guiomar Denisse Posada Izquierdo

High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment has been described to improve the microbiological safety and shelf life of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products, as a nonthermal decontamination technology in the meat industry, applied at pre- or post-packaging. The pathogen widely studied in this product is Listeria monocytogenes that reflects the concern of the food industry. In general, microorganism’s lethality during HHP treatment depends on specific intrinsic factors of the microorganism; those factors are related to food and technological factors of treatment. In addition to processing parameters, intrinsic factors of the food matrix also exert an effect on bacteria inactivation during pressure treatment. It is known that low water activity (aw) protects microorganisms against the effects of pressure. Predictive modelling is an important tool of the novel microbial food safety management strategy that provides with accurate information to demonstrate and guarantee the safety and shelf life of the food products. The chapter describes the effect of parameters on the efficiency of this technology on meat products over pathogens, composition and the sensorial quality consequences. The predictive modelling tool is introduced for the optimisation of meat treatment.

Part of the book: Food Processing