Microbiology
The Food Microbiology science focus area unites the disciplines of microbiology and food technology, facilitating advances in providing safer and healthier food for consumers. Advances in food processing technologies coupled with consumer demand for fresh-tasting, minimally processed foods that are fast and convenient to prepare have extended shelf-life and offer health promoting benefits that create challenges to ensuring food safety throughout the supply chain.
At IFSH, experienced food microbiologists address these challenges by investigating all aspects of the existence, survival and behavior of microorganisms in order to better understand their impact on the safety and stability of our food system—and to devise better ways to mitigate potential harmful effects, whether through advanced processing and preservation techniques or through enhanced food safety management systems.
Mission | Capabilities
The Food Microbiology science focus area involves research to improve our understanding of how microorganisms survive in foods and processing environments, providing food industry members and regulatory stakeholders with the knowledge needed to make real-world business and policy-making decisions that enhance food safety and health for all consumers. Focal research areas include:
- Growth, survival and behavior of microorganisms in food processing systems, production environments and products
- Pathogen stress responses using new molecular tools to understand survival in conditions relevant to food manufacturing
- Characteristics and diversity of microorganisms
- Post-harvest factors to enhance safety of fresh produce
- Characteristics and behavior of bacterial endospores
- Microbiological sampling, sample preparation, detection and enumeration methods
- Microbial ecology
- Recovery, survival and inactivation of viruses
IFSH offers a comprehensive food microbiology research program to assist food industry members in assuring the safety and quality of their products, and provides regulators with science-based data to help inform related guidance and policy making.
IFSH’s assets and capabilities include:
- Extensive experience in Listeria, Salmonella and E. coli detection and identification methods
- Top-notch scientific support studies on microbial growth, survival, niche development, stress response, inhibition and inactivation
- Outstanding analytical capabilities, including immunocapture, polymerase chain reaction, ribotyping, protein fingerprinting, epifluorescence microscopy, solid phase cytometry and impedance
- State-of-the-art research facilities, including a fully operational pilot plant with a GMP processing and kitchen area, a BSL-2 food processing laboratory suite, and a BSL-3 laboratory and biocontainment pilot plant
- Expert knowledge on detection and mitigation strategies for foodborne viruses
