Microbiological Factors of Food Quality for Risk Assessments in Europe: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Public authorities and consumers worldwide are increasingly concern about food quality and safety. Europe has established and suggested management systems in food industry that control hazards in food products. However, outbreak incidents by foodborne pathogens existing until now. European studies that present microbiological risk factors or studies which have conducted microbiological risk assessments about a variety of food products, which represent increased risk of harboring pathogens, are included. By using PRISMA guideline, we searched for the most recent publications from 2017-2021 referring microbiological risk assessments from online databases Scopus, PubMed and Science Direct. From 505 articles initially captured, data was extracted from 84 studies regarding microbiological risk factors in terms of food quality and safety, that are evidenced in European studies. Moreover, information about country of origin, food type, production phase and technology used for detection of pathogens, are also presented. Our results, indicate that quality systems should be further developed in order to control all possible routes of contamination in the supply chain. This work provides information to managers in food industry and scientists for further research regarding microbiological risk assessments.