Food hygiene

The research objectives in the field of food hygiene are the methodological recording of health risks and the characterisation of hygiene and quality shortcomings during, before and after food production. The main areas of research are to provide the basis for the development of safety concepts and to contribute to the continuous review of and improvement to  existing safety concepts. In this process the food hygiene aspects of all production steps have to be taken into account.

Furthermore, food hygiene research within BfR also contributes to the preparation of quantitative risk assessments.

Research activities focus both on the establishment and validation of detection methods for micro-organisms in foods as well as on studies on the characteristics of micro-organisms in foods.

Research areas

• Examination of process parameters during food production
• Determination of the bacterial stress response and stress adaptation as an answer to technological stress factors using expression analyses (qRT-PCR and microarray analyses)
• Development and validation of microbiological and molecular detection methods for Vibrio spp., Campylobacter spp. and Listeria monocytogenes
• Research into biofilm issues in meat processing using the example of Listeria monocytogenes
• Characterisation of the virulence properties of micro-organisms in foods
• Determination of the tenacity of food hygiene-relevant micro-organisms in food
• Work on quantitative risk assessment