ABSTRACT
Although organic acids are food ingredients that are often utilized at will (Bégin and Van Calsteren, 1999), thorough risk assessment should be the rst action taken by all leading food industries in the preservation of food products (Brul and Coote, 1999; Van Gerwen et al., 2000; Hoornstra and Notermans, 2001). It is crucial to rst analyze the production process as a whole, or the so-called from farm to fork or from raw material to consumer. Such an assessment requires four processes that must be systematically followed (1) hazard identication, (2) hazard categorization, (3) exposure evaluation, and (4) risk assessment (Brul and Coote, 1999).
