Practical guidance for validation studies: from start to finish

Food business operators (FBOs) are required to implement a food safety management plan and document that their control measures are effective to control the identified hazards. The effectiveness of control measures must be validated prior to implementation of the food safety management plan. Validation studies provide evidence that control measures are capable of effectively controlling the identified hazards and therefore meet the process control objective. Determining key requirements for a validation of control measures involves significant challenges such as hazard(s) identification, setting critical control parameters, understanding the interactions between the hazard and the food and collecting adequate scientific, technical and/or experimental evidence. Recently, an international, multidisciplinary expert group, convened under the aegis of the European Branch of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI Europe), generated a guidance document on validation studies for lethal control measures for foodborne pathogens. In this webinar, expert group members from industry and academia will demonstrate how in practice to plan and perform a validation study, and to analyze the data in order to establish effective control measures.