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

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 (Pt) 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.