Quantitative microbial risk assessment for Clostridium perfringens foodborne illness following consumption of kimchi in South Korea

The purpose of this study was to conduct a risk assessment for Clostridium perfringens foodborne illness via kimchi consumption in South Korea. Prevalence of C. perfringens in kimchi, kimchi consumption amount and frequency, and distribution conditions (time and temperature) from manufacture to the home were determined. C. perfringens initial contamination level was estimated using Beta distribution [Beta (6, 79)]. Potential C. perfringens cell counts during distribution were predicted using the Weibull model (primary models, R 2 = 0.923–0.953) and a polynomial model [(δ = 1/(0.2385 + (− 0.0307 × Temp) + (0.0011 × Temp 2 )), R 2 = 0.719]. Average daily consumption data was assessed using Gamma distribution [1.0444, 91.767, RiskShift (0.16895), RiskTruncate (0, 1078)]. The mean risk of C. perfringens -associated foodborne illness following kimchi consumption was found to be 1.21 × 10 −17 . These results suggest that the risk of C. perfringens foodborne illness from kimchi consumption, under current conditions, can be considered to be very low in S. Korea.