The use of meta-analytical tools in risk assessment for food safety

• Published in: Food microbiology 2011-06, Vol.28 (4), p.823-827
• Main Authors: Gonzales-Barron, Ursula, Butler, Francis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Chilling; Food industries; Food microbiology; Food Safety - methods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Hygiene and safety; Meat - microbiology; Meta-analysis; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Pig; Pork; Risk assessment; Risk Assessment - methods; Salmonella; Salmonella - growth & development; Slaughter; Swine
• ISSN: 0740-0020; 1095-9998
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2010.04.007

This communication deals with the use of meta-analysis as a valuable tool for the synthesis of food safety research, and in quantitative risk assessment modelling. A common methodology for the conduction of meta-analysis (i.e., systematic review and data extraction, parameterisation of effect size, estimation of overall effect size, assessment of heterogeneity, and presentation of results) is explained by reviewing two meta-analyses derived from separate sets of primary studies of Salmonella in pork. Integrating different primary studies, the first meta-analysis elucidated for the first time a relationship between the proportion of Salmonella-carrier slaughter pigs entering the slaughter lines and the resulting proportion of contaminated carcasses at the point of evisceration; finding that the individual studies on their own could not reveal. On the other hand, the second application showed that meta-analysis can be used to estimate the overall effect of a critical process stage (chilling) on the incidence of the pathogen under study. The derivation of a relationship between variables and a probabilistic distribution is illustrations of the valuable quantitative information synthesised by the meta-analytical tools, which can be incorporated in risk assessment modelling. Strengths and weaknesses of meta-analysis within the context of food safety are also discussed.