Table 7.

Ranking of the predicted number of listeriosis cases per year in the female 65–74 year age group in the EU by consumption of blanched frozen vegetables (bfV) compared to seven RTE food categories

Rank	Food category/subcategory	Predicted number of cases per year
		Total	Type of packaging		Mode of use/consumption
			ROP	NAP	Uncookeda	Cookedb
1	Cold‐smoked fish	41.6	41	0.6	NA	NA
2	Cooked meat	37	32	5	NA	NA
3	Gravad fish	32	4	28	NA	NA
4	Paté	22	15	7	NA	NA
5	Hot‐smoked fish	20	15	5	NA	NA
6	Sausage	17.6	14	3.6	NA	NA
7	Soft and semi‐soft cheese	1.9	NA	NA	NA	NA
8	bfV, 23% uncooked, probability of illness per serving for worst‐case scenarioc	1.62	NA	NA	1.6	0.02
11e	bfV, 4% uncooked, probability of illness per serving for baseline scenariod	0.0406	NA	NA	0.04	0.0006

Note: For the bfV category, a baseline or a worst‐case mgQMRA uncertainty scenario was assumed based on the different proportions of total number of servings being uncooked.

bfV: blanched frozen vegetables; NA: not applicable; NAP: normal atmosphere packaging; ROP: reduced oxygen packaging.

^aFor vegetables consumed uncooked (i.e. as ready‐to‐eat, RTE).

^bFor vegetables consumed cooked (i.e. as recommended by most of the producers).

^cConsidering a baseline estimate of total number of servings (2.65 × 10⁹ servings per year) and a worst‐case scenario of the probability of illness per serving of 2.6 × 10⁻⁹.

^dConsidering a baseline estimate of total number of servings (2.65 × 10⁹ servings per year) and a baseline scenario of the probability of illness per serving of 4.0 × 10⁻¹⁰.

^ePositions 9 and 10 of the ranking have not been included in this table for clarity.