Microbial Forensics in Food Safety

Microbial food safety risk assessment

Microbial bioinformatics for food safety and production

In the production of fermented foods, microbes play an important role. Optimization of fermentation processes or starter culture production traditionally was a trial-and-error approach inspired by expert knowledge of the fermentation process. Current developments in high-throughput 'omics' technologies allow developing more rational approaches to improve fermentation processes both from the foo...

Pollen microbial colonization and food safety

Pollen samples collected in the spring of 2002 in 8 south-western Slovakia localities and 40 live individuals of bumblebee were analyzed for the presence of bacteria and microscopic fungi. Microorganisms occurring on pollen and bumblebees were identified using cultivation and microscopic methods supplemented with biochemical tests. In the pollen were found fermenting and non-fermenting Gram-neg...

Future challenges to microbial food safety.

Despite significant efforts by all parties involved, there is still a considerable burden of foodborne illness, in which micro-organisms play a prominent role. Microbes can enter the food chain at different steps, are highly versatile and can adapt to the environment allowing survival, growth and production of toxic compounds. This sets them apart from chemical agents and thus their study from ...

Bayesian-integrated microbial forensics.

In the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax letters, researchers have been exploring ways to predict the production environment of unknown-source microorganisms. Culture medium, presence of agar, culturing temperature, and drying method are just some of the broad spectrum of characteristics an investigator might like to infer. The effects of many of these factors on microorganisms are not well underst...