Physiology of food poisoning microorganisms and the major problems in food poisoning control

There remains considerable public concern regarding the current high level of food poisoning disease in Europe and the fact that, year by year, it continues to rise rather than fall. At the same time, there are strong and increasing demands from consumers for foods that are more convenient, fresher, more natural, less heavily processed (e.g. 'REPFEDS' and 'Sous Vide' foods, mildly heated and distributed at chill temperatures; Lund and Notermans, 1992), less heavily preserved (e.g. less acid, less salt, less sugar; Gould, 1995) and less reliant on additive preservatives than hitherto (e.g. sulphite, nitrite, organic acids and esters; Russell and Gould, 1991). Most of these trends result in a general reduction in the intrinsic preservation of foods. Furthermore, many food poisoning microorganisms escape the attention of preservation techniques altogether, reaching the consumer more or less directly from contaminated foods, most often foods of animal origin. It has therefore been argued that a substantial reduction in food poisoning in the near future will be difficult to achieve unless we obtain a greatly improved understanding of the physiology of the most important target organisms (Knochel and Gould, 1995). This knowledge must then be exploited in ways which effectively improve our means for the control of these hazards and reduce the risk to the consumer. A three year AAIR Concerted Action Programme (PL920630: 'Physiology of Food Poisoning Microorganisms') was therefore initiated in 1992 in order to bring together research groups working on the physiology and related aspects of food poisoning microorganisms. The principal objectives of the programme were: 1. To determine the physiological, biochemical and genetical bases of the organisms' survival of and responses to food-relevant stresses; 2. to determine the physiological and genetical factors influencing infectivity and toxinogenesis; 3. to understand the physiological bases of those synergistic systems that are already empirically applied or that have future potential; 4. to make a wide range of modern techniques in which particular members have expertise more widely available. As can be read in the subsequent contributions to this special issue, the area is a fruitful one for microbiological research and the Programme has been successful in bringing together disparate strands of the topic. It has also highlighted areas where this scientific knowledge may be better exploited in improving the microbiological safety of foods for the consumer.