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Abstract Vibrio parahaemolyticus is one of the most common causes of seafood-borne illnesses in South Korea and is typically found on traditional Korean raw crab marinated in soy sauce (ganjang-gejang). In this study, we investigated the growth of a cocktail of three V. parahaemolyticus strains (NCCP13712, NCCP13714, and NCCP14551) from ganjang-gejang stored at different temperatures (5 °C, 10 °C, 15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C, and 30 °C) for up to 144 h. The growth data were fitted to a curve to estimate primary kinetic parameters including lag time (LT), specific growth rate (SGR), and maximum population density (MPD) using DMFit. The model performance was evaluated by calculating bias (B f) (1.0002–1.0032) and accuracy (A f) (1.0226–1.0431). A secondary model of LT, SGR, and MPD was developed as the four-parameter polynomial model (all R 2 = 1). Based on the developed predictive model, we established the time-temperature criteria (TTC) model for determining the time and temperature for ensuring microbiological food safety. According to the model, V. parahaemolyticus on ganjang-gejang increases about 1 log growth ratio (LGR) from the initial cell number after storage for 10.8, 5.2, and 4.7 h at 16 °C, 22 °C, and 28 °C, respectively. If 1 LGR is set as the food safety standard, these time and temperature values are recommended as the appropriate TTC values for V. parahaemolyticus on ganjang-gejang. Thus, the predictive TTC model can provide a guideline for safe storage parameters that ensure microbiological food safety in the context of certain foodborne pathogens. Highlights • Vibrio parahaemolyticus on ganjang-gejang is a major cause of foodborne disease. • We developed a predictive growth model for V. parahaemolyticus. • The time-temperature criteria (TTC) model establishes microbiological food safety. • The model can prevent of foodborne illness caused by inappropriate food storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of microbiological food safety is largely based on good design of processes, products and procedures. Finished product testing may be considered as a control measure at the end of the production process. However, testing gives only very limited information on the safety status of a food. If a hazardous organism is found it means something, but absence in a limited number of samples is no guarantee of safety of a whole production batch. Finished product testing is often too little and too late. Therefore most attention should be focussed on management and control of the hazards in a more pro-active way by implementing an effective food safety management system. For verification activities in a food safety management system, finished product testing may however be useful. For three cases studies; canned food, chocolate and cooked ham, the relevance of testing both of finished products and the production environment is discussed. Since the level of control of different processes can be largely different it is beneficial if the frequency of sampling of finished products and production environments would be related to the associated human health risk, which can be assessed on the basis of risk assessment and epidemiological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]