Emerging risk management metrics in food safety: FSO, PO. How do they apply to the mycotoxin hazard?

This review focuses on risk management issues applied to mycotoxins and, in particular, the Codex Alimentarius recommendations for microbiological hazards are considered. Mycotoxins are chemical hazards from microbiological origin, thus some parallelisms can be found. Firstly, a revision of main points regarding risk assessment is done. Then, the existing control measures for risk management of mycotoxins are reviewed and ALOP, FSO and PO concepts are introduced. Finally, an example of the application of these metrics is included: the processing of roasted pistachio is considered. The starting point was the maximum levels in Commission Regulation 1881/2006 for total aflatoxins. Having these values in mind, the process steps were individually considered and PCs determined when required. Moreover, according to these PCs, possible PcC and PdC were calculated, using previously published results. The present study demonstrates that the emerging risk management metrics, FSO, PO and PC, might be also applied to the mycotoxin hazard. The example here presented underlines the need for better and more structured information on the impact of the storage and processing steps on mycotoxins accumulation. Moreover, the problem of the impact of uncertainty in checking PO and FSO compliance was brought up.