. 2022 Mar 8;20(3):e07128. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7128

Table C.7.

Potential sources of uncertainty identified in the assessment of the most relevant foods known to be associated with human listeriosis in the EU and that are relevant to be treated with HPP and other relevant pathogens (apart from L. monocytogenes) in those foods

Source or location of the uncertainty	Nature or cause of the uncertainty	Impact of the uncertainty on the conclusions (e.g. over/underestimation)
Incomplete information in the FBO database and literature	The link between listeriosis cases/outbreaks and the incriminated food is not always established (reported) and sometimes the description of the food is too general to accurately understand the type of food incriminated. Similarly, the description of food incriminated in a FBO caused by pathogens other than L. monocytogenes does not facilitate to understand whether it is a specific RTE food associated with listeriosis and relevant for HPP	The impact of this uncertainty is expected to be low as it is believed that the most relevant foods known to be associated with human listeriosis in the EU have been identified. This is supported by the fact that there is good agreement between the FBO as retrieved from the EFSA zoonoses database and the retrieved scientific literature. Moreover, the identified food categories show the typical risk factors (exposed to contamination, relatively long shelf‐life, physico‐chemical characteristics supporting the growth of the pathogen, etc.). The impact of this uncertainty is expected to be low as it is believed that the other relevant hazards have been identified in the most relevant foods known to be associated with human listeriosis in the EU.

Source or location of the uncertainty

Nature or cause of the uncertainty

Impact of the uncertainty on the conclusions (e.g. over/underestimation)

Incomplete information in the FBO database and literature

The link between listeriosis cases/outbreaks and the incriminated food is not always established (reported) and sometimes the description of the food is too general to accurately understand the type of food incriminated.

Similarly, the description of food incriminated in a FBO caused by pathogens other than L. monocytogenes does not facilitate to understand whether it is a specific RTE food associated with listeriosis and relevant for HPP

The impact of this uncertainty is expected to be low as it is believed that the most relevant foods known to be associated with human listeriosis in the EU have been identified. This is supported by the fact that there is good agreement between the FBO as retrieved from the EFSA zoonoses database and the retrieved scientific literature. Moreover, the identified food categories show the typical risk factors (exposed to contamination, relatively long shelf‐life, physico‐chemical characteristics supporting the growth of the pathogen, etc.).

The impact of this uncertainty is expected to be low as it is believed that the other relevant hazards have been identified in the most relevant foods known to be associated with human listeriosis in the EU.

FBO: food‐borne outbreak.