Loading
Foodborne Diseases · Journal article
Food Microbiology · August 10, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This is a qualitative risk prioritization framework applied to Chinese household food handling practices, combining national survey prevalence data with expert judgment on severity and risk perception using fuzzy logic. The method ranked failure to use separate knives and cutting boards for raw and cooked foods as highest risk, but the study does not validate these rankings against actual foodborne illness incidence and remains methodological rather than epidemiological.
Risk prioritization analysis using Fuzzy Failure Mode and Effect Analysis. Chinese households and consumers; expert panel composition not specified. Intervention: Fuzzy-FMEA framework integrating survey data and expert elicitation to rank household food safety practices. China.
Failure to use separate knives and cutting boards for raw and cooked foods ranked highest in risk priority Insufficient reheating and improper food storage identified as other important failure modes Fuzzy-FMEA integrated three dimensions: occurrence (from national survey), severity (expert elicitation), and detection (risk perception)
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
This framework may help food safety educators and policymakers focus on household practices most likely to pose risk, but users should recognize that the risk ranking reflects expert opinion and prevalence data rather than validation against actual disease burden.
A methodological framework study using expert elicitation and survey data to rank household food safety risks, without empirical validation of the ranked risks against actual foodborne illness outcomes.
As stated by the source record.
This framework may help food safety educators and policymakers focus on household practices most likely to pose risk, but users should recognize that the risk ranking reflects expert opinion and prevalence data rather than validation against actual disease burden.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
What is missing. This record has no reported figures. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Households represent a primary setting for foodborne diseases, where consumers' food handling practices play a critical role in the growth and transmission of pathogens, yet the risk prioritization of poor hygienic practices remains unclear. This study proposes a Fuzzy Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (Fuzzy-FMEA) approach that integrates fuzzy logic into the traditional FMEA framework to prioritize poor hygienic practices in Chinese households. The Fuzzy-FMEA considered three dimensions-occurrence (the proportion of consumers engaging in poor hygienic practices), severity (the extent to which the practice may lead to foodborne diseases), and detection (consumers' risk perception of poor hygienic practices)-to calculate the risk priority number, with higher values indicating greater priority levels. The occurrence score was estimated using a national food handling practices survey, whereas the severity and detection scores were assigned through structured expert elicitation based on Cooke's classical model. The results indicate that failure to use separate knives and cutting boards for raw and cooked foods ranked highest, suggesting cross-contamination may represent an important contributor to foodborne illness risk in Chinese households. In addition, insufficient reheating and improper food storage should also not be overlooked. By prioritizing potential failure modes, this approach demonstrates both methodological innovation and practical value in enhancing household food safety management, offering a framework that can be adapted and applied in other countries with similar contexts.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.