Abstract
Under limited financial and human resources, in order to obtain rationale on how food safety inspection should be performed, by using a publically available risk-ranking software tool called “Risk Ranger”, risk-ranking levels under ordinal inspections of three food-pathogen combinations (Campylobacter in fried chicken, Salmonella spp. in fried eggs, and Staphylococcus aureus in potato salad) were estimated. By enhancing food safety inspections, changes of risk-rankings of the three combinations were estimated. Risk-ranking outputs of three combinations under the ordinal inspections were estimated as follows: 57 (Campylobacter), 52 (Salmonella spp.), and 48 (Staphylococcus aureus). If certain parameters in processing steps are modified by guidance provided through intensive food safety inspections, certain combinations of parameters (e.g., improvement of effect of processes, reduction of probability of recontamination, and improvement of the post-processing control system) indicate significant risk reductions. We think the results of this study should be utilized for performing more effective and efficient food safety inspections.
