International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Review A Systematic Review of Beef Meat Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment Models 1, 1 2 1 Vincent Tesson y , Michel Federighi , Enda Cummins , Juliana de Oliveira Mota , 1, 1, Sandrine Guillou y and Géraldine Boué * 1 INRA, Oniris, SECALIM, 44307 Nantes, France;
[email protected] (V.T.);
[email protected] (M.F.);
[email protected] (J.d.O.M.);
[email protected] (S.G.) 2 Biosystems Engineering, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Food Science Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Current address: INRAE, Oniris, SECALIM, 44307 Nantes, France. y Received: 29 November 2019; Accepted: 15 January 2020; Published: 21 January 2020 Abstract: Each year in Europe, meat is associated with 2.3 million foodborne illnesses, with a high contribution from beef meat. Many of these illnesses are attributed to pathogenic bacterial contamination and inadequate operations leading to growth and/or insufficient inactivation occurring along the whole farm-to-fork chain. To ensure consumer health, decision-making processes in food safety rely on Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment (QMRA) with many applications in recent decades. The present study aims to conduct a critical analysis of beef QMRAs and to identify future challenges. A systematic approach, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, was used to collate beef QMRA models, identify steps of the farm-to-fork chain considered, and analyze inputs and outputs included as well as modelling methods.