Gradually, and partly spontaneously, the initially small ICFMH symposia and expert meetings developed into the international biennial “FOOD MICRO” Symposia, with attendance of around 600 participants from around the world. By this development, the ICFMH and the national organisers of these Symposia managed to keep track with increasing challenges and complexity posed by diverse aspects of Food Microbiology, ranging from international and local/regional issues in Food Safety and Food Hygiene to Food Biotechnology, and to the application of Molecular Approaches in all aspects of modern Food Microbiology. The following list of the past ICFMH Symposia provides some overview on their history and the various and diverse topics that have been addressed over a period of more than 50 years.

1954	Lille/France	Semi-preserved meat products
1957	Cambridge/UK	Microbial processes in meat and fish curing brines
1960	Evian/France	Bottled non-alcoholic beverages
1964	Gothenburg/Sweden	Microbial inhibitors to be used in foods
1967	Moscow/USSR	Botulism
1968	Bilthoven/The Netherlands	Dried Foods
1970	Prague/CSSR	Semi-preserved foods
1970	Mexico City/Mexico	Restoration of sublethally injured populations in food
1972	Reading/UK	Microbiological safety of Foods
1974	Kiel/Germany	Accelerated and facilitated methods
1977	Stettin/Poland	Ecology, pathogens/index organisms
1978	München/Germany	Microbial associations and metabolism
1981	Aalborg/Denmark	Psychrotrophic pathogens and agents of spoilage
1983	Budapest/Hungary	Associations and Interactions
1987	Halkidiki/Greece	Microbial toxins / Drinking water
1990	Bolkesjö/Norway	Gram-negative pathogens
1993	Bingen/Germany	Novel approaches towards food safety assurance
1996	Budapest/Hungary	Technology, Safety, Stability
1999	Veldhoven/The Netherlands	Food Microbiology and Food safety in to the next Millennium
2002	Lillehammer/Norway	Friends and Foes; www.matforsk.no/web/foodm.nsf/
2004	Ljubljana	New tools for improvement microbial food safety and quality; biotechnology and molecular biology approaches; congress.cd-cc.si/foodmicro2004/
2006	Bologna/Italy	Food Safety and Food Biotechnology. Diversity and global impact; www.foodmicro2006.org
2008	Aberdeen/Scotland	Evolving microbial food safety and quality; www.foodmicro2008.org