Models of microbial cross-contamination dynamics

- An updated overview of cross-contamination modelling approaches is provided.
- Compartmental and mechanistic models can explain cross-contamination dynamics.
- Models cannot explain all indirect mechanisms involving cross-contamination.
- Alternative performance indices can be valid measures for models evaluation.

Cross-contamination can be understood as a systematic process where contaminated surfaces are involved in food contamination. However, in most cases, it is mainly referred as a sporadic event affecting the number of contaminated food samples in a lot rather than the concentration levels since bacterial transfer often occurs at low numbers. Bacterial transfer, although recently, has been considered as an important area to be modelled and several studies have made attempts to give insight in the transfer process to provide more reliable models and predictions. The use of compartmental mechanistic models could allow to better understand the influence of food processing factors and the indirect mechanisms involved in cross-contamination.