Microbiological Control

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The European Food Safety Commission (EFSA) has published guidelines for reporting whole genome sequencing (WGS) data to its One Health WGS System, which will support outbreak investigations and other EFSA activities.

A microbial assessment of cow milk cheese products has revealed the existence of a new species of Listeria.

As part of an assessment of the efficacy of performance standards that were established in 2015, The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has published new findings about Salmonella contamination of chicken parts.

At the IAFNS 2022 Annual Meeting and Science Symposium, Dr. Felicia Wu discussed her recent study that suggests aflatoxin will become an increasing problem for U.S. corn producers—especially in the Corn Belt—and explored possible solutions. 

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Dr. Charles Hofacre, the Principal at The Southern Poultry Research Group, and Dr. Bill Potter, a Food Safety Technical Advisor at Elanco Animal Health, about a multi-hurdle approach to controlling Salmonella in poultry, pre-harvest intervention strategies for pathogen contamination, and USDA’s renewed focus on Salmonella in poultry.

The Swiss Association of Cantonal Chemists recently published an inspection report that revealed deficiencies in controls for Listeria monocytogenes among food businesses. 

Through the use of CRISPR-SeroSeq technology, researchers found that certain strains of Salmonella are often undetected by traditional testing methods.

The safety of meat continues to be a challenge, mainly due to the ever-increasing line speeds and customer expectations that are approaching zero tolerance toward any irregularities. Listeria-free fresh meat is being requested in the market, and even small pieces of soft plastic can cause major recalls, loss of reputation, and loss of business for meat producers. In this article, the authors present new approaches to addressing well-known and emerging challenges from physical and microbiological risks in the meat industry.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has partnered with the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC) and the Quadram Institute to create the UK Food Safety Network, a collaborative space for food safety research, training, and innovation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has published an after-action review for two Salmonella Newport outbreaks that occurred during 2016–2019, classifying the strain as reoccurring.