The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) is an international scientific expert group administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO).
JEMRA began in 2000 in response to requests from the Codex Alimentarius Commission and Member Countries on the assessment and control of microbiological hazards in foods.
In this context, FAO and WHO promotes the Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA) framework to inform actions and decisions aimed at reducing food-borne disease and facilitating domestic and international food trade. Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA) allows estimating the risk to human health from specific microorganisms in foods. It is a tool to compare and evaluate different scenarios, as well as to identify the types of data necessary for estimating and optimizing mitigating interventions.
The areas of work and activities of JEMRA include:
- Risk assessments for pathogen-commodity combinations;
- Expert advice on microbiological risk management;
- Guidelines and methods for the conduct of the microbiological risk assessment process;
- Capacity development and technology transfer through courses, workshops, and the provision of risk assessment and risk management tools.
Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA): an international approach
Risk assessment is one of the components of risk analysis - which can be defined as being an overall strategy for addressing risk - that also includes risk management and risk communication. The importance of overlap between these three elements (risk assessment, risk management and risk communication) is well recognized, but some functional separation is also necessary. In relation to risk assessment, such separation ensures that issues are addressed in a transparent manner using a scientific basis. The risk assessment process is a means of providing an estimate of the probability and severity of illness attributable to a particular pathogen-commodity combination. The four-step process (hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment, and risk characterization) enables this to be carried out in a systematic manner, but the extent to which the steps are carried out will be dependent on the scope of the risk assessment. This can be defined clearly by the risk manager through ongoing dialogue with the risk assessor. The carrying out of an MRA, particularly quantitative MRA, is recognized as a resource-intensive task requiring a multidisciplinary approach. While MRA is becoming an important tool for assessing the risks to human health from food-borne pathogens and can be used in the elaboration of standards for food in international trade, it is not within the capacity of many, perhaps even most, countries to carry out a complete quantitative MRA.
As well as a tool that can be used in the management of the risks posed by food-borne pathogens, risk assessment can also be used to justify the introduction of more stringent standards for imported foods. A knowledge of MRA is therefore also important for both health and economic purposes, and there is a need to provide countries with the tools for understanding and, if possible, carrying out MRA. This need, combined with CAC's and CCFH's requests for scientific advice on MRA, has led FAO and WHO to undertake a programme of activities to address the issue of MRA at the international level.