Microbes share our food whether we want them to or not. We need to control
microbial proliferation in foods in order to avoid spoilage, to enhance fla
vour and, most importantly, to reduce the risk of food-borne illness. A bro
ad spectrum of interventions are available to control microbial growth, but
the most widely used is temperature. The use of temperature to control met
abolically active bacteria is discussed briefly in the context of current p
ractices. The marketing and legislative climate has provided an impetus to
develop an ever-widening range of systems for microbiological control. This
short review highlights some of the problems associated with such novel co
ntrol systems, including selection of new spoilage agents or food-borne pat
hogens, and the difficulties of monitoring the efficiency of microbial cont
rol in the light of a better understanding of bacterial physiology.