The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded grants to two Florida State University (FSU) professors for projects focused on food safety innovation—specifically, on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to mitigate foodborne antimicrobial resistance, and for the development of a new Salmonella assay.

Between 2017 and 2019, Canadian public health laboratories transitioned to whole genome sequencing (WGS) for foodborne illness outbreak surveillance. A recent study shows the positive impact of this transition of national outbreak detection and response for important foodborne pathogens. 

Pathotrak has appointed Frank Yiannas, former Deputy Commissioner of Food Policy and Response at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to its Board of Directors.

Combining genomic sequencing data and artificial intelligence (AI), researchers have demonstrated the efficacy of a new approach for the untargeted detection of contaminants, antibiotics, and other food safety anomalies in bulk milk samples.  

Mérieux NutriSciences has entered into an agreement to acquire the food testing business of Bureau Veritas, which includes its microbiological and chemical analysis and molecular testing activities. 

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have developed an antibody that can identify Campylobacter jejuni and inhibit its growth, which could potentially power rapid detection solutions for food contamination and medical interventions for foodborne illness. 

Penn State University researchers have demonstrated the usefulness of wastewater monitoring for foodborne pathogen surveillance, after successfully isolating Salmonella from wastewater samples and linking them to clinical isolates from an existing foodborne illness outbreak.

On September 18, bioMérieux celebrated the opening of its new Molecular and Genomic Innovation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where innovative molecular diagnostics solutions will be developed to meet the testing needs of the food and beverage industry, thereby advancing food safety.

A recent study has demonstrated that current sampling and testing methods for Campylobacter may overlook epidemiologically-important strains. The researchers suggest using optimized culture methods and analyzing multiple isolates per sample.

CuratedFoodMetagenomicData (cFMD) is a new, open-source database for the collection of food microbial data. It currently includes the metagenomes of 2,533 foods, comprising more than 10,000 microbes, approximately half of which were previously unknown.