Scope, Purpose and Areas of Interest

Terms of reference of the Technical Advisory Panel relating to Microbiology shall be as noted in the general recommended terms of reference and constitution of the Panels.

Scope

Microbiological issues related to the food and drink industry.

Purpose

• To share non-confidential information about issues, roles, trends and knowledge gaps within food microbiology between its members and members of other CCFRA Panels.
• To foster an understanding of what's new in food microbiology, by identifying the relevant experts and reviewing their activitie.s
• To provide guidance to CCFRA and others on priority areas of food microbiology needing further study.
• To review and mentor CCFRA projects relevant to microbiology in food manufacturing.

Areas of Interest

Sustainable raw material and ingredient production, for example:

• Assessment of the impact of agricultural practices
• Identification of the extended quality attributes of raw materials
• Microbiological specifications for raw materials and ingredients

Process design, optimisation and control, for example:

• The impact of reduced and minimal processing to improve quality
• Optimisation of processing and packing operations to meet regulatory requirements

Innovative processing and packing operations, for example:

• Identification and assessment of novel heating and cooling systems

Product Quality Innovation and new product development, for example:

• Understanding the microbiological impact of interactions between raw materials, processing and packing.
• Understand and define rapid, reliable, robust, cost effective and generally accepted methods to verify microbiological quality.
• Understand models of microbiological properties of foods associated with the assessment of product quality.
• Identification, evaluation and application of new microbiological approaches to product development.

Identification of current and emerging biological hazards with understanding and prioritisation of the associated risks, for example:

• Development validation and acceptance of models or food safety risk assessment.
• Addressing hazards and risks at the product development stage, including those arising from reformulation of products (e.g. microbiological stability) in response to market or regulatory pressure.