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Jennifer McEntire, Ph.D., is the Founder of Food Safety Strategy, LLC, a food safety consulting firm. She uses her expertise in food microbiology, traceability, and food safety regulations to help food industry members and trade associations tackle scientific policy issues and prepare for future developments in food safety. Dr. McEntire holds a Ph.D. in Food Science from Rutgers University and a B.S. degree in Food Science from the University of Delaware.
Non-cultivable foodborne pathogens, such as enteric viruses and protozoan parasites like Cyclospora, present unique challenges in our food system due to significant limitations in sampling and detection. This article covers the methodological drawbacks of current methods related to interpretation of results and public health risk, while offering alternative food safety management principles to address the prevalence of these pathogens in food.
For all the food safety benefits that Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and preventive controls have brought us, perhaps public health would be better served if companies put the most effort toward managing their greatest risks instead of thinking of risk in yes/no terms.
Traceability can be viewed from the perspectives of record keeping, the physical commingling of product, and the challenges when several foods are vehicles for a common source of contamination.
