ArtiSaneFood - Innovative Bio-interventions and Risk Modelling Approaches for Ensuring Microbial Safety and Quality of Mediterranean Artisanal Fermented Foods

The production of Mediterranean artisanal foods plays a key role in the development of rural regions, since the agricultural commodities used as raw materials are generally produced locally, allowing and stimulating local commercialisation, thus contributing to a sustainable environment, employment of rural population, and preservation of local heritages. In the underprivileged regions of the Mediterranean, therefore, artisanal foods must be further valorised to improve their consumption and distribution; which, on the other hand, requires local, mostly small producers to ensure the quality and safety of their products. Unfortunately, this is not always possible since the combination of artisan practices in the traditional settings, potentially instable hygienic conditions and variable production processes, prevailing especially in small-scale/family-owned installations, may result in the contamination and survival of foodborne pathogens that may persist throughout the chain until the time of consumption. This project offers a unique opportunity to support the Mediterranean artisanal food producers who in many cases need scientific and economic means to assess the quality of their raw ingredients, procedures towards standardisation of their production, and lethality requirements of their processes towards pathogens.

The project will focus on improving the safety of selected Mediterranean artisanal sausages and cheeses known to be affected by two problems: the occurrence of foodborne pathogens and the variable/unpredictable quality of end-products. These problems are linked and can be caused by: 1) the use of contaminated raw meats and milk, 2) deficient hygiene and sanitation, 3) faulty fermentations, 4) post-process recontamination, 5) inadequate manufacturing process variables, 6) changing manufacture protocols, and 7) lack of process and quality controls. In this project, the potential causes will be pinpointed and measured in a way that can underpin the development of efficient intervention strategies and process criteria. This will be performed through an integrated risk-based approach sustained by the concepts of (i) food chain data availability, (ii) use of biopreservatives, (iii) survival studies of pathogens, (iv) dynamic predictive modelling, and (v) risk assessment and derivation of monitoring tools.

Each of the project’s work stages has particular impacts: Stage 1: Based on the outcomes from the extensive tracking surveys, sources and routes of contamination within the facilities will be elucidated to the artisanal producers, providing them also with recommendations for qualifying and classifying production sites and zoning. Stages 2&3&4: As a result of investigating the efficacy of biopreservatives, the most protective extracts from plants grown in the Mediterranean region will be characterised as well as their effects on the pathogens’ survival rate. The development of novel manufacture processes using biopreservatives will be validated by both the assessment of the fate of inoculated pathogens in the actual artisanal food throughout processing and storage; and the sensory analysis of the expected organoleptic qualities of the product. Stage 4: The dynamic modelling and process safety optimisation approaches developed in ArtiSaneFood will have an enormous impact on Predictive Microbiology as they can effectively address a myriad of food safety issues, allowing researchers to model data obtained from real productive processes. Stage 5: The most efficient biopreservation-based strategies for food safety, delineated from the process risk models, will not only have a risk mitigation impact (i.e., pathogens), but, inherently, as antimicrobials, they will also delay product deterioration (i.e., spoilage bacteria), extend shelf-life, and reduce the use of chemical preservatives. Additionally, using process safety optimisation and risk modelling, new norms/standards aiming to control variability in quality of end-products will be derived, and quality monitoring tools such as sampling plans and control charts will be designed for implementation in specific stages of the food chains. Stage 6: An innovative food safety IT application will be made available to the participating artisanal producers to assess the lethality of their processes, to produce the quality monitoring tools upon current and target safety levels, and to retrieve traceability information when used in notebook mode. Beyond the project’s duration, artisanal producers may interact with the researchers through this support-providing platform.