A risk profile of microbial hazards across the supply continuum for the beef, sheep and goat meat industries was developed using both a qualitative tool and a semi-quantitative, spreadsheet tool, Risk Ranger. The latter is useful for highlighting factors contributing to food safety risk and for ranking the risk of various product/pathogen combinations. In the present profile the qualitative tool was used as a preliminary screen for a wide range of hazard-product pairings while Risk Ranger was used to rank in order of population health risk pairings for which quantitative data were available and for assessing the effect of hypothetical scenarios. 'High' risk hazard-product pairings identified were meals contaminated with Clostridium perfringens provided by caterers which have not implemented HACCP; kebabs cross-contaminated by Salmonella present in drip trays or served undercooked; meals served in the home cross-contaminated with Salmonella. 'Medium' risk hazard-product pairings identified were ready-to-eat meats contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and which have extended shelf life; Uncooked Comminuted Fermented Meat (UCFM)/Salami contaminated with Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and Salmonella; undercooked hamburgers contaminated with EHEC; kebabs contaminated by Salmonella under normal production or following final "flash" heating. Identified 'low' risk hazard-product pairings included cooked, ready-to-eat sausages contaminated with Salmonella; UCFM/Salami contaminated with L. monocytogenes; well-cooked hamburgers contaminated with EHEC. The risk profile provides information of value to Australia's risk managers in the regulatory, processing and R&D sectors of the meat and meat processing industry for the purposes of identifying food safety risks in the industry and for prioritising risk management actions. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences
Research Group:	Food sciences
Research Field:	Food packaging, preservation and processing
Objective Division:	Manufacturing
Objective Group:	Processed food products and beverages (excl. dairy products)
Objective Field:	Carcass meat (incl. fish and seafood)
UTAS Author:	Sumner, JL (Dr John Sumner)
UTAS Author:	Ross, T (Professor Tom Ross)
ID Code:	36361
Year Published:	2005
Web of Science® Times Cited:	31
Deposited By:	Agricultural Science
Deposited On:	2005-08-01
Last Modified:	2006-05-04
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