A Web-based Application Customized to Food Safety Requirements of Small-sized Enterprises

Abstract

Today, European legislation considers predictive microbiology as a tool to define food safety. People in the food industry, including those in small-sized enterprises, even if they are unable to avail themselves of specific knowledge, are encouraged to use the same approach. To extend a bridge between both sides, a user-friendly, simplified, web-based application (Praedicere Possumus, PP) has been developed. Through this application, users have access to different modules, which apply a set of models, some of them already validated and considered reliable for determining the compliance of a food product with EU safety criteria¹. In particular, the PP applies the growth/no-growth boundary model², coupled with a three-phase linear growth model and thermal/non-thermal models. Two complementary functionalities, such as the fractional contribution of each inhibitory factor to growth probability (f) and the time evolution of the growth probability (P_t) have also been included³. The PP application is expected to assist users in defining processing and storage conditions to attain a desirable food safety level and to support food safety authorities in demonstrating compliance with legislation.