Food and Agriculture Organization

Risk Assessment Tools for Vibrio Parahaemolyticus and Vibrio Vulnificus Associated with Seafood Food and Agriculture Organization

This report reviews risk assessment tools for V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus in oysters and different bivalve molluscan species, as well as available information on testing methodology, and makes recommendations on microbiological methods to monitor the levels of pathogenic Vibrio spp. in seafood and/or water. The tools are foreseen to support countries in using appropriate risk-based approaches for their seafood species, primary production and post-harvest practices. There has been an increase in reported outbreaks and cases of foodborne disease attributed to pathogenic Vibrio species. As a result, there have been several instances where the presence of pathogenic Vibrio spp. in seafood has led to a disruption in international trade. A number of Vibrio spp. are increasingly being recognized as potential human pathogens. The food safety concerns associated with these microorganisms have led to the need for microbiological risk assessment for their control. Recommendations include establishing an internationally recognized system for developing criteria and protocols to evaluate the performance parameters of molecular detection methods for pathogenic Vibrio spp. in seafood (as well as similar approaches for other pathogen/commodity pairs); examining the appropriateness of coupling methods performance and analyst proficiency evaluation; developing reference materials covering bacterial strains and a sample matrix; and exploring the development of a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) network patterned after Global Food Net.