Title

Bacterial pathogens in the salmon and fish processing industry.

Objectives

Bacterial food-borne pathogens are an important food safety issue worldwide. Increased vigilance to issues of quality control and implementation of the HACCP monitoring system involving the monitoring of microbial contamination at points of potential contamination, have necessitated increased monitoring of bacterial contaminants, with resulting expanded production costs. The rapid and accurate identification of bacterial pathogens is important, both for food quality assurance and to trace outbreaks of bacterial pathogens within the food supply.

The presence of pathogenic organisms on food (Salmonella spp., Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli 157:H7 etc.) poses a food poisoning threat and following a number of recent high publicity food-related health scares, consumer concerns regarding the safety of food have become a priority. The aim of the proposal is to develop a reliable and sensitive technique, for the simultaneous detection of three food-borne pathogens of concern to the salmon and fish processing industry. Using combined enrichment and multiplex real-time PCR in a 96-well format, attempts will be made to develop a high throughput assay with results generated within 48 hours.

Duration

2006-2008

Partners/Collaborators

None

Funding Agency

Enterprise Ireland – Applied Research Enhancement

Contact for Further Details

Wolfram Brück - CAMBio Project Manager
Email: wolfram.bruck@lyit.ie

John Slater – CAMBio Principal Investigator
Email: john.slater@lyit.ie

Brian Carney – CAMBio Principal Investigator
Email: brian.carney@lyit.ie