Microbiological risk assessment: guidance for food

Overview

Microbiological Risk Assessment Guidance for Food (MRA 36) provides a structured framework for assessing the risk of microbiological hazards in food.

It updates three previous FAO and WHO guidance documents (MRA 3, MRA 7, and MRA 17) and brings them into a single volume, providing an overall umbrella for microbiological risk assessment. In doing so it captures the growth and experience in this field, which continues to evolve in line with science and risk management demands.

The Microbiological Risk Assessment Guidance for Food was developed for the global community of scientists and risk assessors, both experienced and inexperienced in risk assessment, and the risk managers or others responsible for risk decision-making and/or communication so that they can: i) identify the key issues and features of a microbiological risk; ii) recognize the properties of a best-practice risk assessment; iii) avoid some common pitfalls of risk assessment; and iv) perform risk assessments that are responsive to the needs of risk managers.