Estimating probability distributions of bacterial concentrations in food based on data generated using the most probable number (MPN) method for use in risk assessment

► The evaluation of bacterial concentration distribution is a key element in QMRA. ► A common practice is to fit a distribution from censored microbiological enumeration data. ► Fitting a distribution from censored microbiological data leads to biased estimates. ► A complete likelihood maximization method from MPN patterns should be preferred.