OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between foodborne diseases (FBD) and contamination of Salmonella spp. in catering foods, quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA) of Salmonella spp. was used to evaluate the food material or the ready to eat food.

METHODSThe contamination data of Salmonella spp. in 10 896 food samples of 9 categories of food which were collected by National Food Contamination and Food Borne Disease Surveillance Net, combining with diet consumption data from National Food Nutrition Survey in 2002, were analyzed by the microbiological risk assessment model developed by WHO/FAO or FDA/FSIS of US to predict probability of FBD.

RESULTSThe results of MRA showed that the probability of salmonellosis by consuming ready to eat meat in summer and autumn was 0.20, much higher than the other foods. Although the contamination level in raw poultry was higher than meat, the probability of salmonellosis by raw poultry (9.11 x 10(-6)) was lower than meat (3.14 x 10(-5)) because of the low consumption volume.

CONCLUSIONProbability of FBD was significantly correlated with the volume of food consumption, the status of economy and bacteria contamination level. The level of FBD in summer season was higher than in winter and spring because of ambient temperature.