ABSTRACT
Food-borne illness as an outcome after the ingestion of contaminated food products indicates a broad group of illnesses caused by pathogenic microorganisms, chemical and physical contaminants that can contaminate food at several points during production and preparation process. Although the research in this eld has been very intensive during the last decades with the same trend that will continue in future, and many preventive and control measures that have already been applied in the food industry, the number of food-borne illnesses stays at unacceptably high level (Havelaar et al., 2010). There are several reasons for this. First, advances in the food microbiology allowed more food-borne pathogens to be identied (e.g., Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Cronobacter sakazakii). Some known pathogens have expressed unexpected characteristics regarding survival/growth and occurrence in food not commonly associated with the specic pathogen (e.g., E. coli O157:H7 was found in fresh produce, apple cider, and cookie dough). Additionally, consumers’ demands have changed; nowadays, consumers prefer more fresh-like food with unchanged natural properties with long shelf life, and demographic characteristics including age, gender, education, and income have also changed. All these factors create the environment where food producers and scientists are facing new challenges and constantly search for new and enhanced preservation treatments to improve microbial safety of food products.
