Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis Professional Development Group
Mission Statement: To facilitate communication on the topics of predictive modelling (PM) and microbial risk analysis (MRA), encourage research and data reporting methods to support PM and MRA, and promote their applications and use.
Next Meeting
August 2, 2020
Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland | Cleveland, Ohio
How to Join
Involvement in committees and professional development groups (PDGs) offers Members the opportunity to share a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Members of committees and PDGs are the architects of the Association structure. They plan, develop and institute many of the Association's projects, including workshops, publications and educational sessions. Technical challenges facing the food safety industry are discussed, examined and debated. Members may volunteer to serve on any number of committees or PDGs that plan and implement activities to meet the Association's mission.
Membership on a PDG is voluntary (not by appointment) and may vary from year to year.
IAFP Members can manage their PDG involvement by logging in to the IAFP Web site. At the Member Dashboard, click “Edit Profile.” Your profile has two tabs: Contact Info and Professional Info. Select the Professional Info tab and update the PDGs you would like to participate in. We highly recommend that you contact the PDG chairperson for each group to let them know you have joined their PDG.
Non-members can contact Didi Loynachan, dloynachan@foodprotection.org, for more information.
Minutes
- Jul 21, 2019
- Jul 8, 2018
- Jul 9, 2017
- Jul 31, 2016
- Jul 25, 2015
- Aug 3, 2014
- Jul 28, 2013
- Jul 22, 2012
- Jul 31, 2011
- Aug 1, 2010
2018 Board Response to Recommendations
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Recommend Panos N. Skandamis be approved as Vice
Chair of the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG.
Board Response: Agree.
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Recommend the Board approve the Microbial Modelling
and Risk Analysis PDG to provide a certificate for those
student abstracts (to be presented as posters/technical
presentations in the forthcoming IAFP meeting) that will
be qualified by the judgment panel of the PDG for being
presented at the PDG.
Board Response: Agree.
2017 Board Response to Recommendations
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Recommend contacting firms like IBM who are working with the food industry on BIG data across the industry and finding a sway for them to summarize their findings through webinars, symposia or informal sessions.
Board Response: Agree, the Board encourages this PDG to proceed with this effort
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The MMRA PDG again had big support to recommend that recordings of MMRA PDG webinars be made freely available for both ALL IAFP Members and Non-Members. It is especially the most generic subjects that would be good to broadly diffuse.
Board Response: The MMRA PDG again had big support to recommend that recordings of MMRA PDG webinars be made freely available for both ALL IAFP Members and Non-Members. It is especially the most generic subjects that would be good to broadly diffuse.
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Recommend finding a way to fund webinars through the PDG for presentations that cannot be sponsored by a commercial third party, due to the nature of the project (such as a study by a government agency or WHO/FAO). This would help make webinars freely available.
Board Response: The Board is open to optional funding of webinars.
2016 Board Response to Recommendations
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Recommend to the Board that Bala Kottapalli be approved as the Vice Chair.
Board Response: Agree
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Webinars are a great way of promoting food safety to students, the developing world, small and medium enterprises and other interested parties, and also a good marketing tool for IAFP. Currently, the recordings are only available for members and the webinar itself is freely available if it has as audience PDG members only. The MMRA PDG again had big support to recommend that recordings of MMRA PDG webinars be made freely available for both IAFP members and non-members. The PDG also recommends that webinars sponsored by the MMRA PDG be freely available to members of other IAFP PDGs. This could contribute largely to advancing food safety worldwide, but also improve marketing for new IAFP members.
Board Response: All IAFP members have access to the Webinars including members of other PDGs. Membership in IAFP is economically priced and viewing Webinars is a benefit of IAFP Membership.
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Recommend the Board consider providing electronic addendum for scientific papers published in Journal of Food Protection. Other journals such as the SRA Risk Analysis, IJFM and AEM provide such service so providing electronic addendum to JFP will stimulate people in this domain to submit more papers.
Board Response: Under the new, JFP Online system, authors will be able to submit supplemental information with their manuscript in the format desired for posting upon finalization of their article.
2015 Board Response to Recommendations
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Webinars are a great way of promoting food safety to students, the developing world, small and medium enterprises and other interested parties, and also a good marketing tool for IAFP. Currently the recordings are only available for members and the webinars itself freely available if it has as audience PDG members only. The MMRA PDG recommends that recordings of MMRA-PDG webinars be made freely available again (as was in the past) for both IAFP members and non-members. The PDG also recommends that webinars sponsored by the MMRA PDG be freely available to members of other IAFP PDGs.
Board Response: Webinars are available to IAFP Members as a member benefit and serve as an incentive to those who are not members to become an IAFP Member. Membership rates are kept extraordinarily low so that it is possible for any interested individuals to be an IAFP Member.
2014 Board Response to Recommendations
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Recommend to the Board that Marcel Zwietering be the Vice Chair.
Board Response: Approved.
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Recommend to the Board that the MMRA PDG mission statement be revised as follows: To facilitate communication on the topics of predictive modelling (PM) and microbial risk analysis (MRA), encourage research and data reporting methods to support PM and MRA, and promote their applications and use.
Board Response: Approved.
Resources
- Roundtable Update on ICMSF, Leon Gorris, 7 31 2010
- Speaker Notes on FAO Activities, Sarah Cahill, 7-31-10
Webinars
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The Challenge of Conducting Challenge Tests
Sep 13, 2019
It is the responsibility of food business operators to take measures to ensure that food safety criteria are applicable throughout food production processes, food storage conditions and food preparation. In the case of ready-to-eat and/or perishable food which supports microbial growth, predictive microbiology, literature data or challenge test studies are performed to prove compliance to regulation. In the case a challenge test is deemed necessary, the webinar will provide guidance on how to conduct it properly, based on the recently published standard on challenge testing and the European technical guidance document. This will lead to greater confidence in the control of Listeria monocytogenes and thus to safer food.
Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation
Organized by the IAFP
Presenters
- Hélène Bergis, Presenter ANSES: French Food Safety Agency
- Paul in 't Veld, Presenter Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
- Florence Postollec, Presenter ADRIA
- Mariem Ellouze, Moderator Nestlé Research Center
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Applying Behavioral Economics to Model the Threat of Food Fraud
Apr 16, 2019
Sponsored by: Battelle
Organized by: IAFP's Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Description: The food protection community is well-versed in applying mathematical modeling to estimate microbiological growth as part of assessing food safety hazards or estimating shelf life. In contrast, the application of mathematical modeling to estimate threat based on the behavioral trends is a less familiar, yet very relevant concept in food protection as food fraud incidents perpetrated by people rather than microbes impact both consumers and producers.
Behavioral economics' Utility theory, which has been used to predict trends ranging from consumer preference to terrorist threat, can be applied to proactively quantity the threat of food fraud to a supply chain based on a range of measurable ingredient characteristics. The concept of modeling human behavior and its application to food protection will be discussed and the specific use case of estimating food fraud will be presented in detail.Presenters
- Dr. Brian Hawkins, Presenter Research Leader and Program Manager, Battelle
- Dr. Bala Kottapalli, Moderator Senior Principal Microbiologist, Conagra
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The Integration of Omics in Microbiological Risk Assessment
Mar 27, 2019
Sponsored by: ILSI Europe
Organized by: Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Description: Currently, with the possibilities to investigate microorganisms at molecular level, we are experiencing an exciting momentum in which we can exploit this information to better understand the ecology and physiology of foodborne pathogens. Even more intriguing is the possibility to integrate omics data into risk assessment schemes. It is expected that in the next future this will be used to better control pathogenic microorganisms in the food chain.
After a discussion forum (IAFP Europe 2015), a workshop at IAFP Europe 2016 (co-organized by ILSI Europe, IAFP and ICFMH) a special issue resulted:
Omics in MRA - the integration of omics in microbiological risk assessment
International Journal of Food Microbiology 287, Pages 1-40 (20 December 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-food-microbiology/vol/287/suppl/CThese papers have the goal to describe the state of the art and create the foundation for a constructive discussion on how to best use, integrate and exploit omics data in MRA. In this webinar the outcome of these paper will be presented.
Presenters
- Dr. Heidy den Besten, Presenter Wageningen University
- Prof. Luca Cocolin, Presenter University of Turin
- Dr. Annemarie Pielaat, Presenter Unilever
- Dr. Alejandro Amezquita, Moderator Unilever
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The Role of Water Quality in Food Safety: Does Water Matter? - Part 3: Does Water Quality Matter to My Food Company?
Jun 4, 2018
An initiative of the Water Quality and Safety PDG of the International Association for Food Protection - where people who know and care about what water safety means to food safety gather and share their expertise.
Part 1 gave the basics of EPA rules, drinking water monitoring, and disinfection.
Part 2 described what hazards could be in compliant municipal drinking water.
Now In Part 3, learn what to do about it!
First, University of Arizona’s Dr. Chuck Gerba explains the basics of Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) and how to determine your risk profile. EPA’s Ken Rotert highlights which EPA Rules and standards might impact food processing, and how to get information on your water supplier; Dr. Vince Hill of the CDC explains why we don’t hear much about water causing food contamination. Finally, hear valuable advice from Will Daniels, President, Produce Division, IEH Laboratories, with practical approaches to control your risk.
This webinar is sponsored by the IAFP's Water Safety and Quality PDG, the Microbial Modeling & Risk Analysis PDG & Atlantium Technologies
Presenters
- Chuck Gerba, Presenter Professor, Microbiology & Environmental Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Dept., University of Arizona
- Kenneth Rotert, Presenter Physical Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Vincent Hill, Presenter Chief, Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Will Daniels, Presenter President, Produce Division, IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group
- Phyllis Butler Posy, Moderator Vice President, Strategic & Regulatory Affairs, Atlantium Technologies
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Practical Applications of Microbial Modeling Webinar Series: Part III of III
May 22, 2018
Sponsored by
Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis and Meat and Poultry Safety and Quality PDGs
Applications of microbial modeling and risk assessment are critically important to the food industry. This is part III in a webinar series that aims for a deeper-dive into practical considerations in applying modeling tools to inform decisions. Structured around specific food matrices (such as meat and poultry, multi-component foods, and fresh produce), the webinars will focus on examples that may be of practical applications in day-to-day problem-solving.Presenters
- Betsy Booren Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC
- Yuhuan Chen FDA CFSAN
- Tom Ross University of Tasmania.
- Peter Taormina Etna Consulting Group
- Marcel Zwietering Wageningen University
- Bala Kottapalli, Moderator Conagra Brands
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Practical Applications of Microbial Modeling Webinar Series: Part II of III
Mar 5, 2018
Applications of microbial modeling and risk assessment are critically important to the food industry. This is part II in a webinar series that aims for a deeper-dive into practical considerations in applying modeling tools to inform decisions. Structured around specific food matrices (such as meat and poultry, multi-component foods, and fresh produce), the webinars will focus on examples that may be of practical applications in day-to-day problem-solving.
Sponsored by Q Laboratories
and
IAFP Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis and Meat and Poultry Safety and Quality Professional Development GroupsPresenters
- Marcel Zwietering Professor, Wageningen University
- Betsy Booren Senior Policy Advisor, Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC
- Peter Taormina, Moderator President, Etna Consulting Group
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Practical Applications of Microbial Modeling Webinar Series: Part I of III
Nov 29, 2017
Applications of microbial modeling and risk assessment are critically important to the food industry. This webinar series aims for a deeper-dive into practical considerations in applying modeling tools to inform decisions. Structured around specific food matrices (such as meat and poultry, multi-component foods, and fresh produce), the webinars will focus on examples that may be of practical applications in day-to-day problem-solving.
Presenters
- Dr. Tom Ross University of Tasmania
- Dr. Peter Taormina Etna Consulting Group
- Dr. Betsy Booren, Moderator Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, and Matz
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Dose-Response for Listeria monocytogenes presented by Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis (MMRA) Professional Development Group (PDG)
Jun 1, 2017
The relationship between the number of ingested Listeria monocytogenes cells in food and the likelihood of developing listeriosis is not well understood. Various dose-response models, based on animal models, outbreak data or epidemiological date are currently available. During this webinar, we’ll recall the specific difficulties in deriving a dose-response for Listeria monocytogenes and describing the various models that are currently developed and used. We’ll present the unique data FDA obtained from recent outbreaks and explain if and how they helped our knowledge of this dose-response.
Presenters
- Régis Pouillot Visting Scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Fernando Perez Rodriguez Professor, University of Córdoba (Spain)
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MMRA PDG presents Modeling in Foods: Kinetics and Tools
Apr 25, 2017
Modeling kinetics in primary models, secondary models, and tertiary models involve microbiology, kinetics, mathematics, statistics, and tools. These aspects will be illustrated and examples of the tools IPMP and Baseline will be shown.
Presenters
- Lihuan Huang USDA Agricultural Research Service
- Antonio Valero Díaz University of Cordoba
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Modeling Variability and Uncertainty in Risk Assessment: a Case Study of Salmonella in Low-water Activity Foods and its Use in Decision Making
Jun 8, 2016
Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis Professional Development Group Presents: Modeling Variability and Uncertainty in Risk Assessment: a Case Study of Salmonella in Low Water Activity Foods and its Use in Decision Making. The presence, survival and heat resistance of Salmonella in low-water activity foods is affected by many factors including environmental, processing and those inherent to the pathogen. The estimated risk of salmonellosis from consumption of these products is influenced by these factors as well as consumption patterns, production volume and population numbers. Variability in the value of each factor affects the risk of illness whereas uncertainty in the knowledge of each factor affects the risk estimate. The aim of this webinar is to provide an overview of strategies for incorporating variability and uncertainty in quantitative risk assessment models for Salmonella in low-water activity foods and describe the utility of doing so for the decision maker.
Presenters
- Sofia Santillana Farakos
- Regis Pouillot
- Jenny Scott
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The Global Burden of Foodborne Disease - Results and perspectives of WHO’s Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG)
Feb 9, 2016
The WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group is providing estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases, according to age, sex and region, for a defined list of causative agents of microbial, parasitic, and chemical origin, thereby strengthening the capacity of countries to assess the burden of foodborne disease and increasing awareness and commitment for the implementation of food safety standards. These estimates provide valuable information for food safety professionals.
This webinar is sponsored by Wageningen University, Marcel Zwietering, Leon Gorris, Arie Havelaar and an anonymous MMRA PDG Member.
Presenters
- Arie Hendrik Havelaar Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida
- Marcel Zwietering, Moderator Wageningen University
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The application of the Appropriate Level of Protection (ALOP) and Food Safety Objective (FSO) Risk-based Metrics in Food Safety Management
Jan 20, 2015
Risk-based metrics such as the ALOP and FSO have been formally adopted by Codex Alimentarius as a means of establishing a link between governmental public health policy and the management of safety in the food chain. Although this link is very much desirable for making food safety management transparent and quantifiable, the ALOP and FSO are not yet actively used as such by competent authorities, maybe due to difficulties to operationalize the metrics.
Organized by the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Presenters
- Dr. Leon Gorris Unilever Research, The Netherlands
- Dr. Elissavet Gkogka Arla Foods, Denmark
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Towards Harmonization of Food Safety Risk Modelling and its Resources
May 28, 2014
This webinar addresses the need for harmonization within food safety risk modelling that can be achieved by sharing resources and linking tools. On the basis of an analysis of the current status-quo this webinar introduces initiatives and technical solutions that could support the global risk assessment community in achieving this.
Organized by the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Presenters
- Dr. Maarten Nauta Technical University of Denmark, National Food Institute
- Mr. Matthias Filter Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Germany
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Risk Based Microbiological Criteria for Campylobacter
May 29, 2013
This Webinar discusses how quantitative microbiological risk assessment has recently been applied to develop "risk based" Microbiological Criteria (MCs) for Campylobacter in broiler meat and illustrate how these MCs may offer a tool for Campylobacter control and risk management.
Organized by the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG.
Please note that Slides #43 and 44 are incorrect. Please click here to see the correct slides.
Presenters
- Dr. Maarten Nauta Senior Scientist, Epidemiology and Molecular Genomics, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Food)
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Distributions of microorganisms in food and their impact on food safety
Jan 31, 2013
Not much is known about how microorganisms are actually physically distributed in foods, yet these distributions determine the likelihood of a foodstuff to cause illness and the consequential public health burden. When food is sampled in an effort to reduce the risk of causing illness, the effectiveness of the sampling programme is also related to the spatial distribution of the microorganisms that are being sampled for.
Organized by the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Presenters
- Dr. Marcel Zwietering Wageningen University, The Netherlands
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ComBase Webinar
Apr 18, 2012
The ComBase database of bacterial responses to food environments is a major international initiative to coordinate the collection and dissemination of data on bacterial responses of food-related environments. For academia, ComBase is an electronic repository of data and predictive models on microbial responses to food-environments. For industry and regulation, it is web-based decision support tool for food microbiology and quantitative risk assessment. Participants will hear about both the potentials and limitations of the ComBase database and its associated predictive models, see how to gain information from the database and how to use assigned modeling tool to develop predictive models of growth and survival of pathogens in the interest of better product formulation, experimental design & improved risk assessment.
Organized by the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG.
Presenters
- Dr. József Baranyi Institute of Food Research (UK)
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Quantitative Assessment of the Microbial Risk of Leafy Greens from Farm to Consumption: Preliminary Framework, Data, and Risk Estimates
Jan 17, 2012
This presentation presents the findings from a project that was undertaken to relate what is known about the behavior of E. coli O157:H7 under laboratory conditions, and integrate this information to what is known regarding the 2006 E. coli O157:H7 spinach outbreak in the context of a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA). The QMRA explicitly assumes that all contamination arises from exposure in the field, but the mechanism is unspecified. This QMRA model represents a preliminary framework that identifies available data and provides initial risk estimates for pathogenic E. coli in leafy greens. Important data gaps that were identified include retail storage times, correlations between storage time and temperature, determining the importance of E. coli O157:H7 in leafy greens lag time models, and validation of the importance of cross-contamination during the washing process.
Organized by the Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality PDG and the Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Presenters
- Dr. Don Schaffner Rutgers University