Contemporary strategies in combating microbial contamination in food chain

The objective of this review has been to disclose collected information on benefits and risks of selected “less-than - sterilizing” processes applied to control microbial hazards in food that was meticulously collected and critically reviewed during five years of EU Sixth framework project “Pathogen Combat”. The target organisms of the project, and thus of this review, too, were Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Campylobacter jejuni. Due to their specific response and high relevancy to the food safety, foodborne viruses and spores, were also discussed within the scope of this review. Selected treatments comprised High Pressure Processing, Intense Light Pulses, treatments with organic acids, treatments with chlorine dioxide and for their relevancy also mild heat treatments and Pulsed Electric Field processing were included. The main aspects included in this review were principles of the processes used and their application, sub-lethal injury and its consequences on microbial food safety, and legal platform and its impact on wide use of the treatments. Finally a reflection has been made to combined application of different hurdles and accompanying risks.