Microbiological risk management is a dynamic process, using data inputs and decision-making parameters that may change over time.

As microbiological food safety issues are brought to the attention of risk managers, there needs to be a systematic preliminary process that brings particular issues into focus and guides further action.

Using microbiological risk assessment in food safety risk management is an area that is still developing. For MRA to become a truly useful decision-support tool there is a need for risk managers to understand when and how it can be used.

Management of Campylobacter and Salmonella in Chicken Meat

The 34th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted Guidelines for the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat. This provides guidance on Good Hygienic Practices and hazard- based control measures as well as approaches for risk-based control of these two pathogens on chicken meat. Some tools and information to assist with the implementation of these guidelines are provided below.

• A list of scientific references supporting hazard-based control measures
• Web-based decision support tool

Report of the FAO/WHO meeting

The use of microbiological risk assessment outputs to develop practical risk management strategies: Metrics to improve food safety

3-7 April 2006 in Kiel Germany is available in English, French and Spanish.

Case studies on the use of microbiological risk assessment outputs in risk management

The following case studies, which were developed as background papers for the above expert meeting, are examples of approaches that might be taken when using MRA to develop food safety metrics.

They are presented here only as illustrative examples to inform the discussions on this issue.