Lanni Luigi, Morena Valeria, Scattareggia Marchese Adriana, Destro Gessica, Ferioli Marcello, Catellani Paolo, Giaccone Valerio
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana "M. Aleandri", Sede di Roma, Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy.
EPTA NORD Food Analysis & Consulting, 35026 Conselve, Italy.
Foods. 2021 Dec 23;11(1):32. doi: 10.3390/foods11010032.
Over 23 million cases of foodborne disease (FBD) occur in Europe each year, with over 4700 deaths. Outbreaks of FBD have a significant impact on our society due to the high economic losses they cause (hospital treatment of affected patients and destruction of contaminated food). Among its health objectives, the European Union has set itself the goal of reducing the incidence of the main FBDs, approving various regulations that codify requirements in order to produce food that is "safe" for human consumption. Among these rules, Regulation 2005/2073 establishes precise food safety criteria for foods that are judged to be most at risk of causing episodes of FBD. The food business operator (FBO) must know their food better and know how to estimate whether a food can support the growth of food pathogens or if they are able to hinder it during the food's shelf life. It is becoming crucial for each FBO to schedule specific laboratory tests (challenge tests) to establish the growth potential of individual pathogens and their maximum growth rate. In 2008 the European Union published the guidelines for programming the challenge tests for in RTE foods. These guidelines were further implemented in 2014 and again in 2019. In June 2019 the UNI EN ISO 20976-1 was published, which contains indications for setting up and carrying out challenge tests for all foodborne pathogens in all foods. In this article, we compare the three official documents to highlight their common aspects and differences, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages that each of them offers for those who have to set up a challenge test for the various foodborne pathogens. Our conclusion is that the challenge test is today the most effective tool to estimate the dynamics and growth potential of pathogenic microorganisms in food, if it is designed and implemented in a scrupulous way. It is important to develop a rational experimental design for each challenge test, and for each food, and this requires professionals who are experts in this specific field of study and who must be properly trained.
欧洲每年发生超过2300万例食源性疾病（FBD），导致超过4700人死亡。食源性疾病暴发对我们的社会产生重大影响，因为它们会造成高昂的经济损失（对受影响患者的医院治疗以及受污染食品的销毁）。在其健康目标中，欧盟设定了降低主要食源性疾病发病率的目标，批准了各种法规，将要求编纂成文，以生产对人类消费而言“安全”的食品。在这些规则中，第2005/2073号法规为被判定最有引发食源性疾病发作风险的食品制定了精确的食品安全标准。食品经营者（FBO）必须更深入了解其食品，并知道如何评估一种食品是否能够支持食源性病原体的生长，或者在食品保质期内它们是否能够抑制病原体生长。对于每个食品经营者来说，安排特定的实验室检测（挑战试验）以确定单个病原体的生长潜力及其最大生长速率变得至关重要。2008年，欧盟发布了即食食品挑战试验规划指南。这些指南在2014年和2019年又得到了进一步实施。2019年6月，UNI EN ISO 20976-1发布，其中包含了针对所有食品中所有食源性病原体进行挑战试验的设置和实施指南。在本文中，我们比较这三份官方文件，以突出它们的共同之处和差异，强调它们各自为那些必须针对各种食源性病原体进行挑战试验的人所带来的优缺点。我们的结论是，如果以严谨的方式设计和实施，挑战试验是当今评估食品中致病微生物动态和生长潜力的最有效工具。为每个挑战试验以及每种食品制定合理的实验设计很重要，这需要该特定研究领域的专业专家，并且他们必须经过适当培训。
