The Way Forward McGill & Food Safety

Transcription

1 The Way Forward McGill & Food Safety Lawrence Goodridge, PhD Ian and Jayne Munro Chair in Food Safety Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

2 Introduction Food and waterborne diseases continue to emerge The objective of a modern food safety system must be to prevent and not just respond to food safety issues Robust process controls should be coupled with risk based sampling Modern food safety programs must be implemented from farm to plate with domestic AND imported foods Improving the safety of the food supply requires an integrated, whole system approach

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4 Vision The Ian and Jayne Munro Chair is expected to undertake collaborative research, and direct undergraduate and graduate teaching and research programs Provide independent, third-party expertise to the Canadian food industry Provide guidance and training in navigating the scientific, legal and policy issues associated with national and global food safety

5 The New Food Safety Reactive approach To food safety Develop data for all foods Proactive approach To food safety Tailor data generation Based on risk Based on data for Individual microorganisms Based on data for related groups of microorganisms

6 Vision Development of an International Centre for Food Safety Clearinghouse for regulatory and other information related to food safety Provide independent validation of new food processing and diagnostic methods Provide education and training workshops for industry members Development of a rapid response team consisting of scientists, legal professionals, and communication specialists who can provide guidance to the food industry during an acute foodborne outbreak event

7 Introduction New risk assessment and management challenges always arise Need to rely on all available and relevant scientifically sound data Need to integrate results to predict hazard/risk Not enough to simply record data Ongoing trend analysis of recorded data could be used to predict outbreaks

8 Trend Analysis: A new paradigm USDA Pathogen modeling Software

9 Trend Analysis: A new paradigm Use information from new technologies with combined estimates of microbial exposure and/or growth in a manner that leads to better predictions of risk for regulatory endpoints

10 Transition to New Predictive Methods Strengthen priority setting/screening for data-poor pathogens by using new predictive methods to fill data gaps and to guide targeted sampling Transition away from pathogen-by-pathogen approaches by leveraging knowledge on groups of pathogens with shared properties (STEC)

11 Transition to New Predictive Methods Integrate into existing risk assessment Risk = Hazard Exposure New Technologies Use new methods in real time and real world situations Evaluate & refine through an iterative process

12 Point of Need Detection Detect multiple types of harmful bacteria simultaneously Different colours in different wells indicate the presence of the bacteria Cellphone or tablet camera can be used to take a image of the test Image analysis (through an app) software can: Determine a positive or negative test result Store the information Provide trend analysis of different tests over time Multiple positive tests would trigger an alert via the mobile sensor network Salmonella spp. control E. coli L. monocytogenes

13 Mobile Based Image Analysis Cell phones or tablets Image analysis Quantification

14 Point of Need Detection Molecular based tests Rapid determination of contamination in food or water Results in 1 hour or less

15 Pursuing the Vision Establishment of the Diagnostic, Enrichment and Testing Center or D.E.Te.Ct. industry can come to have samples analyzed, or custom tests developed for their needs Undergraduate and graduate students will have the opportunity to be trained on the latest equipment used in the food industry, with respect to food microbiological research and analysis Facility will be the third major facility housed within the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, besides the Food Processing Pilot Plant Facilities, and the Cooking and Sensory Facilities

16 Pursuing the Vision

17 Partnerships Internal Partners Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Law, Desautels Faculty of Management, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science External Partners Municipal, Provincial, State, Federal & International Agencies Industry Stakeholders

18 Partnerships International partnerships will bring: Global Acceptance Information Sharing Common Application Tools Mutually Accepted Testing Guidelines Harmonized Frameworks and Guidance

19 Partnerships Collaborative questions to be answered: What are emerging tools and how will they be applied? What is the expected timeline for transition to new tools? Why are changes even needed? What are the expected improvements with respect to food safety? How will success or failure be determined?