Predictive food microbiology

The need to assure the microbiological safety and quality of increasingly complex food products has stimulated interest in the use of mathematical modeling to quantify and predict microbial behavior. During the past several years there has been substantial advancement in both the concepts and methods used in predictive microbiology. Coupled with ‘user-friendly’ applications software and the development of expert system, these models are providing powerful new tools for rapidly estimating the effects of formulation and storage factors on the microbiological relations in foods.