Book excerpt: While predictive microbiology has made a major contribution to food safety, many uncertainties linger, such as the growing evidence that traditional microbial inactivation models do not always fit the experimental data and that all the bacteria of one population do not necessarily behave homogeneously. These problems are all the more acute because of a growing interest in minimal processing techniques that is requiring greater precision from models. Edited by leading authorities, this volume reviews current developments in quantitative microbiology. Part 1 discusses best practice in constructing quantitative models and Part 2 looks at specific areas in new approaches to modelling microbial behavior.