Risk assessment for the consumption of fresh meat products for certain population groups in relation to the modification made in the Royal Decree 1376.2003, which establishes the health conditions for

Royal Decree 728/2011 (Real Decreto, 2011), of 20 May, amends article 4 of Royal Decree 1376/2003 (Real Decreto, 2003), dated 7 November, establishing the sanitary conditions for the production, storage and marketing of fresh meats and derived products at retail establishments; an exception is established in this article concerning the supply of fresh meat preparations to authorised catering establishments. This paper assesses the risk derived from these fresh meat preparations to the consuming population visiting bars and restaurants, and those people staying in geriatric nursing homes, hospitals, schools and nurseries to which the supply of fresh meat preparations is restricted. The results obtained revealed the existence of differences in the health response of the subpopulations studied to specific doses of pathogenic microorganisms. The estimated number of ill people is greater in the case of groups from geriatric nursing homes, nurseries, schools and hospitals in comparison with the groups from bars and restaurants, for both Salmonella and L. monocytogenes

Improving microbial growth prediction by product unit neural networks

This article presents a new approach to the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) modeling of bacterial growth; using Neural Network models based on Product Units (PUNN) instead of on sigmoidal units (multilayer perceptron type [MLP]) of kinetic parameters (lag‐time, growth rate, and maximum population density) of Leuconostoc mesenteroides and those factors affecting their growth such as storage temperature, pH, NaCl, and NaNO2 concentrations under anaerobic conditions