Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a scientific tool that is often used for food safety investigations and foodborne illness surveillance within North America and Europe. A recent survey, however, found that only 8 percent of laboratories outside of North America and Europe use WGS for routine, real-time surveillance. One third of respondents reported not using WGS at all. The study was led by PulseNet International (PNI), a global network of 88 countries that seeks to implement WGS worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), WGS costs 1.2–4.3 times more than traditional molecular methods. Aside from the cost, however, significant organizational, cultural, technical, and scientific barriers to adopting WGS exist. The survey found an array of obstacles to WGS implementation, such as critical gaps in expertise and bioinformatics, struggles to share sequence data with public repositories, a lack of cluster detection and outbreak response tools for countries that are less able to share outside their jurisdiction, and a dearth of tools that can be used with all sequencing platforms.