Birds are a beautiful thing of nature and should be respected and admired. However, they do not belong inside foodservice operations or any other food facilities.
Their search for food and a comfortable harborage area, especially now during the colder months, encourages birds to seek entry to the great indoors. The possibility of contamination from such incursions is why health officials deem them “critical” food safety violations.
Exposure Assessor - RASA Department - DATA Unit
Location: Parma, Italy
Responsibilities:
Deadline for applications: 7 March 2016 (midnight)
Data Management Specialist - RASA Department - DATA Unit
Location: Parma, Italy
Responsibilities:
Deadline for applications: 7 March 2016 (midnight)
EFSA has published two Scientific Opinions on environmental risk assessment (ERA), with a third to follow shortly. Reinhilde Schoonjans explains the issues at the heart of this major project.
How is ERA relevant to EFSA’s work?
Environmental risk assessment is central to much of what we do. EFSA performs ERA as part of its evaluations of “regulated products” – pesticides, genetically modified organisms, and additives in food and animal feed – and of invasive alien species that are harmful to plant health. So as well as assessing the potential risks to human health from such products, we also look at the harm they may cause to the environment.
The 43 EU Reference Laboratories (EURLs) will receive €32.5m for this and next year from the European Commission.
The two most recent outbreaks linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants appear to be over, according to federal officials who say the root cause of the E. coli infections has not been determined.
Testing of fresh produce, meat and other foods from Chipotle restaurants has not provided investigators with much insight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 390 people have reported getting sick in a norovirus outbreak associated with a suburban Kansas City dinner theater.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) initially said more than 100 people got sick after going to the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park. On Thursday, KDHE said more than 390 individuals had now reported illness, and four people had laboratory specimens that confirmed norovirus.
The firm linked to an EU-wide outbreak of Salmonella in 2014 from eggs has been permitted to bring products back to market.
Once again, the fresh produce industry has been hit with a deadly Listeria monocytogenes outbreak. The latest involves fresh-cut salad items, reportedly produced at a Dole processing plant in Ohio, (USA).
This is an exciting and challenging opportunity to lead an internationally renowned, successful organisation with a staff of 650 and a budget of £55m.
The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) is a leading multidisciplinary science organisation with a strong international reputation for excellence in the areas of animal health and welfare, plant science, food safety and quality, marine and freshwater fisheries and eco systems, the environment and agri-food and rural economics. Our research contributes to the success of the agri-food sector - Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturing export industry and a key priority for the Northern Ireland Executive.
We are looking for a leader who can help us build on our reputation, including building more partnerships between science and industry. You must be an effective leader and manager with the vision, appetite and skill to take us forward into the next stage of our development.
Closing date: 12:00 noon (UK time) on Monday, 1 February 2016.
School/Department: Institute for Global Food Security
The Director will report to the Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences and will play a key role in leading the development of interdisciplinary research and postgraduate education on relevant themes. The Director will also manage the Institute so as to enhance the University’s international excellence in research and teaching in line with Vision 2020. The Institute will enhance the profile of the Queen’s University, as a centre of excellence in policy-relevant research.
Closing Date: Monday 1 February 2016
Location: Dublin
Title of Project: Low cost solutions for control of Salmonella in pig production.
Basic function: The successful candidate will join a national research team funded by the Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) administered by DAFM working on “Targeted low cost solutions for control of Salmonella in pig production
Main Duties and responsibilities:
Under the direction of the project coordinator at Teagasc Ashtown and Task leaders at Teagasc, Moorepark, UCD and WIT;
Deadline for applications: 12 midnight on Wednesday 27th January 2016.
A method to detect E. coli O157 in spinach that is quicker, less labour intensive and as accurate as current methods has been validated.
The increasing global attention to the threat of antibiotic resistance has spurred research and development of antimicrobial alternatives. Once such alternative is bacteriophages.
Meat Technologist (Ref: DS1503)
Location: Dublin
Teagasc is seeking to recruit a Technologist with a proven track record in food/meat science. The appointed Technologist will be responsible for carrying out, refining and developing methods for a variety of analyses of meat and meat products including chemical (e.g. composition, protein and lipid profiling), physical (e.g. textural, spectral, rheological) and sensory analysis. The Technologist will support research programmes focused on the understanding and prediction of a) fresh meat quality and b) the interactions of processing, raw materials and ingredients within meat-based products for defined outcomes. The successful candidate will work strategically within the Food Chemistry and Technology Department with Teagasc research officers, post-doctoral scientists and post-graduate students.
Deadline for applications: 12 midnight on Thursday 31st December 2015.
Research Officer – Meat Scientist (Ref: DS1501)
Location: Dublin
Teagasc seeks to appoint a Research Officer to contribute to the development, management and leadership in the Teagasc Meat Research programme. The role will include understanding and optimizing the biochemical processes in the conversion of muscle to meat to enhance meat product quality. The successful candidate will be a key member of the meat research group in the Food Chemistry and Technology Department and will have responsibility for developing an internationally competitive meat research programme aligned with the needs of stakeholders. Securing external collaborative public research funding will be an essential aspect of the role, as will maintaining contacts with industry and carrying out industry commissioned research and development projects. In addition, they will play a leading role in ensuring the scientific excellence of the meat research programme, develop strong collaborative links both nationally and internationally, and contribute to successful technology transfer to the meat sector.
Deadline for applications: 12 midnight on Thursday 31st December 2015.
Human cases of listeriosis and campylobacteriosis rose once again in 2014, continuing an upward trend that began in 2008. Salmonellosis cases increased slightly for the first time since 2008. These are the main findings of the latest annual report by EFSA and ECDC on zoonoses and foodborne outbreaks in the European Union.
Following years of food scandals, from milk contaminated with an industrial chemical to the use of industrial dyes in eggs, and soya sauce made from hair clippings swept off salon floors, China has finally brought out a range of food safety regulations and legal penalties to clean up its food industry.
"Food Futures: from business as usual to business unusual" is WRAP's (Waste & Resources Action Programme) new report analysing 15 critical areas in the UK food system, from farm to fork, and outlining recommendations for key actions by industry and government.
The report, which has been developed with leading figures in the food supply chain, includes:
Microscopy Technologist (Ref: MT/MPK/1115) (Externally Funded Non Grant-in-Aid)
Location: Fermoy, Co. Cork
The successful candidate will be based at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy under the supervision of Dr. Mark Auty where she/he will prepare and examine a range of foods, primarily cereals-based products for examination by light, confocal and electron microscopy techniques as appropriate and in collaboration with researchers in Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown.
Deadline: 12 midnight on Wednesday 9th December 2015
Researchers are using nanoparticles to boost the nutrient content and growth of tomato plants.
With the world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, engineers and scientists are looking for ways to meet the increasing demand for food without also increasing the strain on natural resources, such as water and energy—an initiative known as the food-water-energy nexus.
Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) has been found to hold ‘significant potential’ to replace gold-standard typing methods such as PFGE for routine surveillance and detection of outbreaks.
