Computer aided microbial safety design of food processes.

To reduce the time required for product development, to avoid expensive experimental tests, and to quantify safety risks for fresh products and the consequence of processing there is a growing interest in computer aided food process design. This paper discusses the application of hybrid object-oriented and rule-based expert system technology to represent the data and knowledge of microbial experts and food engineers. Finite element models for heat transfer calculation routines, microbial growth and inactivation models and texture kinetics are combined with food composition data, thermophysical properties, process steps and expert knowledge on type and quantity of microbial contamination. A prototype system has been developed to evaluate changes in food composition, process steps and process parameters on microbiological safety and textual quality of foods.