<RISKRANGER TOOL
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RISK RANGER

This page shows the interface from the spreadsheet (download October 2020). The following additonal text is taken from that spreadsheet.

This is Version 2 of "Risk Ranger", software developed at the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence, to assist understanding of the process of microbial food safety risk assessment. The software has been peer-reviewed and has been published in: Ross, T. and Sumner, J.L. (2002)."A simple, spreadsheet-based, food safety risk assessment tool". International Journal of Food Microbiology, 77:39-53. This paper fully describes the logic behind the system as well as its limitations.
This version has been modified from the original described in the above publication by reducing the "weight" given to "Moderate", "Mild" and "Minor" hazard severity classifications (Question 1) by a factor of 10. This preserves the risk rank scaling (0 - 100) and its original interpretation but better reflects the severity of fatal disease compared to non-life threatening hazards. Question 3 has also been slightly modified to enable better discrimination of serving frequency.
The software is useful for teaching the principles of risk assessment in relation to food safety, and highlighting factors contributing to food safety risk. It has also been used in ranking the risk of various product/pathogen combinations.
As with any such software the outputs are only as reliable as the data entered, and users are urged to remain aware of the intended uses and limitations of the program.

HOW TO USE THE TOOL The tool uses 11 questions in 3 blocks that are to be answered by the user. The answers are to be selected from (drop-down) lists. If one or more questions are omitted, the tool will not necessarily provide error messages, but the results can then not be relied upon.
The numbers between [ and ] show the underlying values that are actually used in the calculations.
For 7 questions it is possible to select a value that is not noted in the lists. In these cases one has to select in the list: OTHER: ... , and then type the value in the textfield with label If one selects another field than OTHER, the system will ignore the value in the textfield. Beware that the system will not check your input, e.g. if the value is within the appropriate range.
To calculate the risk rank, one has to use the Calculate button, and the results will be presented in the following web page.
A. SUSCEPTIBILITY AND SEVERITY

1 Hazard Severity

2 How susceptible is the population of interest ?


B. PROBABILITY OF EXPOSURE TO FOOD

3 Frequency of Consumption

4 Proportion of Consuming Population

5 Size of Consuming Population


C. PROBABILITY OF FOOD CONTAINING AN INFECTIOUS DOSE

6 Probablity of Contamination of Raw Product per Serving

7 Effect of Processing

8 Is there potential for recontamination after processing ?

9 How effective is the post-processing control system?

10 What increase in the post-processing contamination level would cause infection or intoxication to the average consumer?

11 Effect of preparation before eating