ABSTRACT
Since food products are constantly being developed and redesigned in response to market demands, it has been said that a food microbiologist could make a career out of simply conducting these types of challenge studies. Regardless of studies having been conducted on similar products or even published in peer-reviewed journals, a study of the actual product in question with the actual pathogen (or surrogate) or spoilage organism of concern subjected to the exact processing and storage conditions is much easier to explain and offers more peace of mind about approving products based on the nal results. While there is something to be said for “job security” for microbiologists engendered by this constant need for challenge studies, some results-oriented researchers seeking resolution to these types of studies may resort to modeling as a means to assess product performance or microbial control on a more inclusive scale. The use of modeling for microbial risk analysis rather than product-by-product validation can be more efcient and rapid for determining microbial control for large groups of products or for multiple product variations. Such models themselves are constructed from data derived from inoculation studies* and are constrained to predictions that are within or close to the parameters of those studies. More can be found on modeling in Chapter 8.
