Preface 15; Keynote contributions 17; Risk management strategies in food safety: some issues for the EU 19; Patrick G. Wall; Summary 19; 1. Introduction 19; 2. Development of Food Safety Standards 20; 3. Foodborne agents 22; 4. Simplification of food hygiene legislation 24; 5. The European Food Safety Authority 25; 6. Communicating risk 26; 7. The precautionary principle 27; 8. EU Food and Veterinary Office 28; 9. Border Inspections Posts 28; 10. Future challenges 29; References 29; Foodborne disease surveillance as a basis for policy-making 33; Sarah J. O'Brien, Iain A. Gillespie and Goutam K. Adak; Summary 33; 1. Introduction 33; 2. Surveillance 34; 3. Surveillance methods 34; 4. Biases in surveillance data 41; 5. From surveillance to policy: politically relevant science 44; 6. Surveillance for hypothesis-generation: tackling Campylobacter 46; 7. Conclusions 46; Acknowledgements 48; References 48; Food-borne zoonoses, the EU zoonosis legislation and the prospects for food safety and consumer protection 53; Frans J.M. Smulders and Ivar Vagsholm; Summary 53; 1. Introduction 53; 2. Food-borne zoonoses in Europe 54; 3. Zoonosis legislation in the EU 57; 4. Discussion 64; 5. Final observations 66; Acknowledgement 66; References 67. Can computerised information systems lead to more effective surveillance and monitoring of food safety? 69; Dirk U. Pfeiffer; Summary 69; 1. Introduction 69; 2. Data collection 70; 3. Data processing 73; 4. Data analysis 74; 5. Integrated information systems 78; 6. Conclusions 78; References 78; Bugs in space (and time): Spatial and temporal aspects of risk mitigation in zoonotic disease 81; Stuart W.J. Reid, Giles, T. Innocent and Dominic J. Mellor; Summary 81; 1. Introduction 81; 2. Scale 82; 3. Macro level 83; 4. Meso level 85; 5. Micro level 87; 6. An holistic view 89; 7. Implications for surveillance 89; 8. Conclusions 91; Acknowledgements 91; References 92; Review of the monitoring and control of BSE in Europe 93; Marcus G. Doherr; Summary 93; 1. Introduction 94; 2. Epidemiology and diagnosis of BSE 95; 3. BSE surveillance 99; 4. Conclusion 105; References 106; Scrapie surveillance in Europe 111; S. Kumar Sivam; Summary 111; 1. Introduction 111; 2. Purpose of scrapie surveillance 112; 3. Some challenges in scrapie surveillance 113; 4. How scrapie is monitored in the EU 117; 5. Results of EU scrapie surveillance 120; 6. The need to maximise the explanatory power of scrapie surveillance data 121; 7. Conclusions 122. Acknowledgements 122; References 122; Estimating risks from consumption of vegetable crops from landspreading of human and animal waste products 125; Paul Gale; Summary 125; 1. Introduction 125; 2. Mathematical approach to quantitative microbiological risk assessment (MRA) 127; 3. The source-pathway-receptor approach to environmental MRA 129; 4. Risks from E. coli 0157 and Cryptosporidium on vegetable crops after application of sewage sludge to land 135; 5. Predicting the number of infections in the UK from consumption of vegetable crops grown in fields to which sewage sludge has been applied 138; 6. Comparison of E. Coli 0157 loadings in sewage sludge and composted catering waste 140; 7. Risk assessment for E. Coli 0157 in farm manures 141; 8. Risks to animal health from Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spiralis and Clostridium botulinum in composted household waste applied to land 141; 9. Conclusions 146; References 146; Risk assessment and campylobacteriosis 151; Sarah M. Cahill; Summary 151; 1. Introduction 151; 2. Risk analysis 152; 3. Microbiological risk assessment 153; 4. Campylobacteriosis 158; 5. Risk assessment of Campylobacter spp. in poultry 161; 6. Conclusions 167; Acknowledgements 168; References 168; Public health consequences of use of antimicrobial agents in agriculture 173; Alicia D. Anderson, M. Nelson, Nicole L. Baker, Shannon Rossiter and Frederick J. Angulo; Summary 173; 1. Introduction 173; 2. Antimicrobial use in food animals 174; 3. Clinical implications 179; 4. Conclusion 180; References 180. Antimicrobial surveillance and the emergence of resistance in Campylobacter spp. 185; Seamus Fanning, Brigid Lucey, Fiona O'Halloran, Deborah Corcoran and Paul Whyte; Summary 185; 1. Introduction 186; 2. Antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter spp. 187; 3. Antimicrobial resistance determinants on mobile class 1 integrons 189; 4. Modified topoisomerases-emerging resistance to ciprofloxacin 190; 5. Conclusions 192; References 194; Molecular characterisation of multidrug resistant S. enterica strains 197; Alessandra Carattoli; Summary 197; 1. Introduction 197; 2. Results 200; 3. Conclusions 209; Acknowledgments 211; References 211; The integrated surveillance of Salmonella in Denmark and the effect on public health 213; Tine Hald, Henrik C. Wegener, Birgitte Borck, Danilo M. A. Lo Fo Wong, Dorte L. Baggesen, Mogens Madsen, Helle Korsgaard, Steen Ethelberg, Peter Gerner-Smidt and Kare Molbak; Summary 213; 1. Introduction 213; 2. Human incidence and trends, 1988-2002 214; 3. Control of Salmonella in feed 216; 4. Control of Salmonella in poultry 216; 5. Control of Salmonella in pork 223; 6. Control of Salmonella in cattle and beef 228; 7. Monitoring of Salmonella in imported products 230; 8. Surveillance of Salmonella in humans 230; 9. Management of monitoring data 230; 10. Determination of the effect on public health 231; 11. Economy of Salmonella control 234; 12. Discussion 235; References 237; The public health basis for surveillance of infectious intestinal disease in Ireland 239; Paul McKeown; Summary 239; 1. Introduction 239; 2. The development of public health 240. 3 The role of surveillance 242; 4. Steps in policy development and analysis 245; 5. Information for action 246; 6. Common causes of foodborne illness 248; 7. Emerging foodborne infection 251; 8. Bioterrorism 253; 9. Conclusions 253; Acknowledgements 255; References 255; Meat inspection and chain information as part of the Farm to Fork Approach 257; Mac Johnston; Summary 257; 1. Introduction 257; 2. Background 258; 3. Current meat inspection procedures 258; 4. Shortcomings of the current system of meat inspection 259; 5. A new approach 260; 6. Chain information 261; 7. Integrated system from farm to chilled meat 261; 8. Data recording 262; 9. Cattle and sheep study 263; 10. Pig study 265; 11. Use of the information 268; References 269; Synopses of other conference contributions 271; Salmonella control in Irish pig herds 273; B. Bradshaw, D. Morris, A. O'Doherty, J. Egan, G. Kelly, N. Leonard and M. Cormican; Investigations for risk assessment on the behaviour of Salmonella enteritidis in hen's eggs 274; Peggy Braun, Katrin Meyer, Karin Reglich, Amal Wicke and Karsten Fehlhaber; Development of multiplex PCR assay for the simultaneous identification of main pathogenic genes of Escherichia coli in dairy products 275; Tiziana Civera and Maria Teresa Bottero; Investigation of the modes of transmission of thermophilic Campylobacter in commercially produced broiler flocks 277; I. Doolan, E. Casey, P. Whyte, J.D. Collins, N. O'Sullivan, M. Maher and C. Carrolll. A Quantitative Risk Assessment model for E. coli 0157:H7 in Irish minced beef 278; Geraldine Duffy, Eimear Carney, Stephen O'Brien, Enda Cummins, Padraig Nally, Francis Butler and James Sheridan; Investigations into the risk management of albendazole residues in sheep tissues 280; D.J. Fletouris, E.P. Papapanagiotou, D.S. Nakos and L.E. Psomas; Experimental assessment of microbial contamination of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) during storage at 6[degrees]C 283; A. Giuffrida, G. Ziino, L. Pennisi, A. Panebianco and A. Bellini; Monitoring of some environmental pollutants and aflatoxin M1 in organic and conventional milk 286; S. Ghidini, E. Zanardi, A. Battaglia, G. Varisco, G. Campanini and R. Chizzolini; Changes in the profile of the ages of cases of BSE in Ireland 290; H.M. Gunn, D. Lynch, H. Sheridan, J. Cooney, S. Ronan, J. Mullen and W. Dunne; Characterisation of the prion protein gene region in Swiss sheep breeds based on genetic polymorphisms 291; Andreas Gmur, Claude Gaillard and Gaudenz Dolf; Studies on management of the histamine risk in fish for human nutrition and pet food based on temperature control 292; U. Hagen, P. Paulsen and F. Bauer; Distribution of standard reactors and visible lesions in Irish Herds 295; R.F. Hammond and J.D. Collins; The epidemiology and clinical neurology of scrapie in Ireland 297; Anne M. Healy, M.L. Doherty, K.L. Morgan, E. Weavers and J.D. Collins; Improved detection methods required for the monitoring and surveillance of vibrio contamination in seafood produce 299; Moira Johnston; Establishing integrated monitoring and control systems in food production 302; J. Kofer, K. Fuchs and P. Wagner; Risk modelling of pathogens in meat production 304; Christian Kummer; Efficacy of marinades against Listeria monocytogenes 305; P. Losito, A. Vergara and A. Lanieri. Small ruminant TSE in Switzerland: from sample to diagnosis 307; Elisabeth Mourer and Marcus G. Doherr; A longitudinal surveillance study of Escherichia coli 0157 of cattle from the feedlot to the abattoir 308; Donal Minihan, Paul Whyte and Micheal O'Mahony; Evaluating the diagnostic performance of Trichinella testing of wild boar meat in Lower Austria 309; Peter Paulsen and Frans J.M. Smulders; HACCP system implementation in an Italian abattoir for large animals 312; D. Ranucci, R. Branciari, D. Miraglia and M. Severini; Spatial analysis of Irish bovine spongiform encephalopathy herds 314; H. Sheridan, G. McGrath, P. White, R. Fallon, M. Shoukri and W. Martin; Transfer of foodborne pathogens between animals and the environment in the cattle lairage 316; A. Small, C.-A. Reid and S. Buncic; Studies on the correlation between staff hygiene and the bacteriological condition of sushi 318; D. Suppin and F.J.M. Smulders; Risk analysis of mycotoxins in milk in Emilia Romagna 321; M. Trevisani, A. Serraino and D. Boscolo; Computer-based system for the optimisation of official veterinary controls 323; P. Wagner, K. Fuchs and J. Kofer; The Prevalence and PCR Detection of Salmonella Contamination in Raw Poultry 325; P. Whyte, Kevina McGill, J.D. Collins and E. Gormley; Safety improvement of poultry products by high pressure processing 326; J. Yuste, R. PIa and M. Mor-Mur; Biographies 329; Index 339.