PhD Courses in Denmark

The course will provide an interdisciplinary approach to risk analysis within food safety. Risk analysis is an internationally recognized concept and a key decision-making tool for risk managers, e.g. authorities and manufacturers, for assessing food safety and establishing principles for future consumer protection. Following the definition by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, risk analysis consists of three components: Risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. The risk assessment component is the scientific, structured and systematic process that aims to analyse the potential harmful effects of exposures to microorganisms in food. The focus of the teaching will be on risk assessment including quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA), but risk management and decision-making, as well as risk communication, risk perception and acceptance among various stakeholders will also be presented and discussed. In addition, the course will discuss the possible synergies and conflicts between sustainable food production and managing food risks. The course provides students with the principles of performing deterministic and stochastic risk modeling in food production chains. Participants are guided through how to apply dose-response models, and models for growth and inactivation of pathogens in QMRA models. Participants will choose a case study that they will work with throughout the course. They will perform a quantitative risk assessment, including the identification and collection of relevant data. This will require the implementation of a stochastic simulation model in appropriate software, either an Excel add in (ModelRisk) or R-studio. On the basis of the risk assessment, participants will present and discuss proposals for strategies of prevention and control, including discussion of other factors, such as sustainability, risk perception, ethical and economic issues, to be included in the decision-making process.

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

• Describe the international principles for microbiological risk analysis
• Explain the four steps of microbial risk assessment: hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization
• Organise and analyse relevant data (e.g. monitoring/surveillance data and laboratory results) and interpret these for risk assessment
• Represent microbial data by appropriate probability distributions and discriminate the concepts of variability and uncertainty
• Develop simple quantitative risk assessments and interpret the results of risk assessments made by others
• Participate actively in the assessment and management of foodborne risks
• Recommend further investigations or implementation of measures to ensure effective prevention and control, and ensure that sustainability is not compromised through such measures
• Summarise and present the results of risk assessments to various groups, including national and international authorities, food manufacturers and consumers
• Recommend actitivities that can address current national and international food safety issues

Risk assessment of foodborne pathogens in the farm-to-fork continuum. International guidelines for risk analysis. Options for risk management. Risk communication and risk perception. Qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. Applying and interpreting laboratory results and epidemiological data in risk models. Interpretation and reporting of risk assessment results. Synergies and conflicts between risk and sustainable assessments.