Online Information System for Salmonella and Campylobacter

We built a tool to develop database designs from spreadsheets. Data collected from microbiological samples from two turkey-processing plants were stored in the computer as spreadsheets. We found we needed this tool because the current use of spreadsheet was creating problems. We needed web access to the data in the spreadsheet and computer performance suffered because of treating a spreadsheet as a database. This tool will be helpful in converting spreadsheets to develop a database design, especially in the biological field. Using this tool we have developed a web-based database system for storing and retrieving information about two foodborne pathogens, Salmonella and Campylobacter. We named the database system ISSAC (Information System for Salmonella And Campylobacter). This system will reduce the time from days and hours to minutes for making tedious strain comparisons as information retrieval has been made easier than spreadsheets.