Testing & Analysis

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Classical approaches to environmental monitoring through "seek-and-destroy," while useful, can be enhanced with source tracking approaches applied in food production facilities. Such approaches have great potential to enhance food safety. However, these methods will look different when applied by academia and government, in contrast to the approaches recommended for industry. 

The new GENE-UP® TYPER solution from bioMérieux combines a PCR pathogen detection assay with a machine learning-based web application, facilitating root cause analysis of contamination incidents in the food industry.

The EU has adopted a new regulation requiring Member States to conduct whole genome sequencing (WGS) on the isolates of five important pathogens during the investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks, and sets data-sharing parameters.

Reintroduced to U.S. Congress on February 3, the Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act seeks to grant FDA the authority to collect microbial samples from concentrated animal feeding operations, also referred to as “factory farms,” during foodborne illness outbreak investigations.

The UK Government is proposing the addition of several foodborne and waterborne viruses, bacteria, and parasites to the list of notifiable causative agents under the Health Protection Notification Regulations, for which laboratories testing human samples are required to report positive test results.

A researcher from Southern Illinois University Carbondale has received a $150,000 grant from USDA-NIFA to develop an AI-based rapid detection method for Salmonella on onions.

Funded by the Center for Produce Safety, researchers with the University of Barcelona and the Spanish Research Council are developing novel testing protocols for norovirus and hepatitis A on berries and leafy greens, enabling faster analysis and reducing false positives. 

USDA-FSIS has published its Annual Sampling Plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, outlining the agency’s strategy for directing sampling resources in the coming year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently began a national sampling and testing assignment for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) in raw cow’s milk cheese.

Scientists have developed a new method for detecting fecal contamination in water using human viral DNA, which can help improve the safety of water sources while also allowing for microbial source tracking of contamination.