Antibiotic resistance, which transforms ordinary microbes into menaces that cannot be easily controlled, is exacting a growing toll on the human population. More than two million people in the U.S. develop drug-resistant infections each year and at l
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The Technology Strategy Board, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Invest Northern Ireland, the Scottish Funding Council and the Welsh Government, are to invest jointly up to £2.3m to establish Knowledge Transfe
The FSA has published the 12th annual Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) report, which shows that the level of man-made radioactivity to which people in the UK are exposed, remained below the EU legal limit during 2013. No food safety c
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today announced that Dr Pamela Byrne has been appointed Chief Executive and will take up office in March 2015, following the retirement of Prof. Alan Reilly. Dr Byrne is currently Director of Regulatory Po
safefood commissioned the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast to undertake a literature based review on the potential impacts of climate change on food safety from an island of Ireland perspective. The review aimed to ass
The Northern Ireland Strategic Committee on Food Surveillance has published its seventh report on food sampling activity in Northern Ireland in 2013.
The report covers the targeted, risk-based, sampling and testing of food carried out by local counci
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA- FSIS) has released the cost analysis for testing six additional Shiga toxin-producing E.coli (STEC) strains. The analysis was posted in a November 19 notice in the Federal
We’re delighted to announce the publication of the first issue of The Food Chain, a newsletter for members of the Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella and VTEC Networks. You can find news stories from the newsletter right here on Ning or you can subsc
After thieves in Liechtenstein made off with 236 five-kilogram wheels of cheese contaminated with listeria monocytogenes, the Office of Food Inspection there had to issue a warning to the public. The 236 five-kilogram wheels of the semi-hard Alp Sück
Educating consumers and food operators on proper food-hygiene practices is the most pressing food safety issue across the island of Ireland. This is according to Ger Cadogan, Head of Quality and Technical Control at Glanbia, who says this education s
Vaccines against Salmonella that use a live form of the bacteria are more effective than those that use only dead fragments, according to recent University of Cambridge research. This is due to how they stimulate the immune system, said the researche
Anne Dwan is an Environmental Health Officer. She’s been with the Carlow/Kilkenny HSE South department for 17 years.
What is a typical day at work like for you?
I do predominantly food work, so food hygiene inspections, fluoride water testing, pest co
Dr Anne Carroll
More labs are looking into using PCR in testing for Verocytotoxigenic E.coli (VTEC) in food, says Dr Anne Carroll of the VTEC Reference Laboratory.
VTEC is a type of E. coli that produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe illness. “
Nanotechnology holds potential for food processing and packaging – including developments to fight foodborne pathogens – but will consumers buy into it?
A 2014 report funded by safefood highlights the need for more research and engagement with consum
Dr Marta Martins
Marta is a Research Fellow at the UCD Centre for Food Safety
Can you briefly sum up your research?
I study the way bacteria adapt to stresses along the food chain – how they adapt, why they become resistant and what we could do to avo
Margaret Patterson
The food industry is facing a shortage of future talent, according to Prof Margaret Patterson, President of the Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) (UK), who is tackling the issue head on.
“Surveys predict that there will b
How do you ensure that the right people know about the perils of Listeria monocytogenes, a tough, hardy bacterium that can cause a form of food poisoning called listeriosis in vulnerable people?
The recent safefood Listeria Knowledge Network conferenc
A number of emerging opportunities were identified at the safefood Campylobacter Knowledge Networks Annual Conference earlier this year.
Dr Declan Bolton, Principal Research Officer at Teagasc in Ashtown, chaired the conference. He points out that lac
As convenience trumps the culinary arts in many homes, ready meals are ever more popular. Fortunately, most ready meal producers are extremely alert when it comes to the risk posed by pathogens.
“Awareness of food safety has been a constant for us, pa
Social media is not just for celebrity news and funny pictures of cats. It’s also a powerful way for food safety professionals to distribute information on possible risks and identify the spread of outbreaks at an early stage.
Providing accurate and t
