4.5 million people in the UK, approximately 1 in 10 of the population, suffer from food poisoning each year. There is no terminal step (such as cooking) to eliminate pathogenic organisms from many raw products such as meats, fruits and vegetables until they reach the consumer. The consumer is relied upon to adequately cook the products sufficient to kill any bacteria injurious to health prior to ingestion. Several of the pathogens (listeria and salmonella) present on such products are psychrotrophic and can grow at refrigeration temperatures. Centralised processing and preparation of these products is growing, increasing the distance and time between initial preparation and the consumer, thus increasing the risk of growth of pathogens during this time. Ideally, some form of terminal step should be introduced, failing that any step that reduces the microbial load would be advantageous to public health and of economic significance to the industry. However the consumer would like these products to retain their 'raw' characteristics. Therefore any process must not change the intrinsic nature of the food, e.g. a treated chicken carcass should still look "raw".
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