Recent development in low-moisture foods: Microbial safety and thermal process

[Display omitted] •Microbial validation studies of low-moisture foods shared same procedures but vast different details with those of high-moisture foods.•Detailed procedures, analytical protocols , and specialized tools that have been utilized in laboratory-based microbial studies of low-moisture foods were reviewed.•Factors influencing the microbial validation studies in thermal processing low-moisture foods were reviewed. Foodborne outbreaks and recalls of pathogen-contaminated low-moisture foods (LMFs, foods with water activity at 25 °C