Ready-to-eat salads, fruit products and sprouts are booming. However, they carry a not inconsiderable risk of exposure to pathogens. Why is it not possible to completely prevent the entry of pathogenic bacteria despite high hygiene standards in processing companies? At which points in the commodity chains does contamination occur and how can the pathogens multiply? The SAFEFRESH joint project, funded by the BMBF as part of the "Research for Civil Security" program, has investigated how the microbial risk in fresh-cut products can be reduced. To this end, a monitoring and various sterilization processes were developed, and realistic scenarios of possible contamination cases and their subsequent cascades were derived. However, the gain in additional safety is limited.