Ranking of low-moisture foods in support of microbiological risk management: meeting report and systematic review

Microbiological risk assessment series 26

Format:

Corporate Author:

Food and Agriculture Organization , World Health Organization

Publisher:

FAO

Low-moisture foods (LMF) are foods that are naturally low in moisture or are produced from higher moisture foods through drying or dehydration processes. These foods typically have a long shelf life and have been perceived for many years to not represent microbiological food safety risk hazards. However, in recent years, a number of outbreaks of food-borne illnesses linked to LMF has illustrated that despite the fact that microorganisms cannot grow in these products, bacteria do have the possibility to persist for long periods of time in these matrices