Food Safety and Authenticity Webinar Hub

Speakers: 

• David Crabtree, R&D Manager, Culture Media and Food Safety Product Development, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Jaakko McVey, Senior Product Manager, Microbiology, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Sandra Freville, Regional Tactical Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific

While traditional culture media methods have long been considered the gold standard in foodborne pathogen detection, advancements in rapid culture-based techniques have emerged, offering a reliable, faster, and more streamlined approach. In particular, the introduction of chromogenic agars has made it possible to simplify the workflow to a single enrichment followed by a single plating step.

In this webinar, we explore the world of chromogenic culture media and its many benefits for food testing labs. From handling to performance, and time to result, this event covers everything you need to know about this testing approach. 

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Speakers: 

• Jeff Banks, PhD, Food Microbiology Consultant
• Sandra Freville, Regional Tactical Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Traditional cultural methods for pathogen testing no longer meet the testing needs of industrial quality control laboratories. Alternative validated methods can now offer suitable and efficient solutions for pathogen testing, including Listeria Spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. The Thermo Scientific Listeria Precis Method, based on the Thermo Scientific Brilliance Listeria chromogenic agar, combines all the advantages of rapid methods with improved performance and a simplified workflow. 

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Speakers: Dr Salman Zeitouni Global Product Manager, Molecular Solutions and Sandra Freville, Regional Marketing Manager EM/APJ, Food Microbiology

From improving accuracy and reducing the risk of error, to enhancing the speed and throughput of pathogen testing, this event will discuss the benefits that automating your molecular food safety workflow can bring to your lab.  

Our expert speakers will also introduce the Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Automation Platform, highlighting how the solution can take your food testing to the next level with automated lysis and PCR prep that slots effortlessly into the SureTect PCR Workflow. 

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Speaker: Sandra Freville, Regional Marketing Manager EM/APJ, Food Microbiology

Beverage manufacturers need to rapidly identify and address spoilage yeast contamination in the production environment, raw materials and finished products. Early detection of spoilage yeasts increases operational efficiency and profitability while also ensuring brand protection.

In particular, Brettanomyces is responsible for the presence of 4-Ethylphenol in juice and high sugar beverages: its presence may affect Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation and can impact the color, odor and taste of the produced beverages. Robust control programs are therefore essential.

During this event, our expert speaker will discuss the challenges associated with spoilage yeast identification and control, the importance of early detection, and how the new Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Brettanomyces spp. and S. cerevisiae Multiplex PCR Assay can enhance your quality control program.

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Speakers: Aurora Ciarrocchi, PhD and Francesco Pomilio DVM

Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) is the third most important zoonosis in humans and is an increasing cause of foodborne outbreaks and sporadic clinical cases. It is a serious disease in children, where it is the cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Its detection in foods represents a significant challenge for laboratories, where tested samples are quite often positive with real-time PCR during screening, but often negative with plate-based detection.

In this webinar presented by Dr Aurora Ciarrocchi, PhD and Francesco Pomilio DVM, the figures from the past five years of diagnostic activity of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise (IZSAM) are reported. A total of 1,716 foods and environmental samples were analyzed in order to detect STEC with ISO/TS13136:2012. Samples were gathered during official and routine control in the Abruzzo and Molise regions of Italy. The STEC genotypes and epidemiological situation in Italy and EU are also reported.

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Speaker: Dr. Frieda Jørgensen, Senior Scientist, Health Protection England

In 2020, an investigation into the presence of Salmonella spp. in reformed chicken products was undertaken in response to an increase in Salmonella Enteritidis infections in the UK. The initial detection of Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak strains was achieved through the application of a RapidFinder PCR Kit. This serotype-specific PCR method was chosen due to previous success in tracking the spread of Salmonella Typhimurium in the food chain from slaughterhouse environmental samples.

In this webinar, Dr. Frieda Jørgensen, Senior Scientist, Health Protection England, outlines the current investigation of Salmonella Enteritidis, sharing how the Thermo Scientific™ RapidFinder™ Salmonella multiplex PCR test enables rapid detection of contaminated products. Jørgensen highlights how this method can be applied to primary and secondary enrichments, as well as for the confirmation of isolates, and was especially important in analyzing products that were co-contaminated with other serovars where the presence of Salmonella Enteritidis was realized only as a result of the PCR.

Key learning points:

• The limitations of conventional culture methods for samples co-contaminated with several serovars
• The assay’s ease of laboratory uptake, robust calling of results, and reliable performance, regardless of whether applied to primary or secondary enrichments, for the confirmation of isolates, or use on challenging matrices
• Straightforward serotype-specific PCR in samples that would otherwise have evaded detection
• Rapid and more comprehensive identification of affected products for more effective intervention

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Speaker: Dr. Bert Pöpping

The food supply chain can be daunting due to its extraordinary complexity. The coronavirus crises amplify the opportunities for fraud dramatically as in-person audits are no longer possible to uncover hidden rooms and storage areas or forbidden materials. This places a significant burden on food analysts to find food fraud through laboratory testing.

In this webinar, hosted by Select Science, Dr. Bert Pöpping explores the recent developments in the molecular methods field and put these methods in the context of standardization and existing public and private law. Dr. Pöpping will highlight the activities of government bodies, not for profit organisations like AOAC, ILSI and USP, and private law schemes like BRC, IFS, and SQF, and emphasize how the development of methods for species determination can help to detect adulteration.

Key learning points:

• The new risks for food fraud in the supply chain due to coronavirus
• How these risks can be mitigated
• Current governmental developments and method approaches of AOAC International
• How molecular methods can significantly contribute to uncovering food fraud in the supply chain

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Speaker: Danièle Sohier

Listen to Danièle Sohier, senior manager, global scientific affairs – food production at Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Pat Bird, technical consultant at AOAC International, as they discuss the methods available to monitor SARS-CoV-2 in food production environments.

• SARS-CoV-2 detection for environmental monitoring to leverage a risk analysis and an appropriate hygiene intervention strategy
• Aspects of the decision process for selecting a detection workflow
• An overview of the AOAC Emergency Validation Response to support food business operators
• All webinar participants can request a certificate of attendance, including a learning outcomes summary, for continuing education purposes.

Key learning points:

• SARS-CoV-2 detection for environmental monitoring to leverage a risk analysis and an appropriate hygiene intervention strategy
• Aspects of the decision process when selecting a detection workflow
• An overview of the AOAC Emergency Validation Response to support the food business operators

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Speaker: François Bourdichon, Food Safety Microbiologist, Food Safety, Microbiology and Hygiene

This webinar presents the audience with an overview of the microbiological challenges the Dairy and Chocolate industry face when manufacturing low moisture foods. The session focuses on dry infant formula, cocoa and chocolate with the benefits gained from:  

• harmonized test protocols for the detection of Salmonella spp., Cronobacter spp., and Staphylococcus aureus in powdered infant formula,
• testing sample pooling or increasing the test portion size for cocoa, chocolates and powder infant formula
  
  

Key learning points:

• An overview of regional and national regulations
• The benefits of having a harmonized workflow across multiple pathogens on a single platform

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This webinar was originally hosted by Select Science on October 14, 2020

Speakers: Erin Crowley, Chief Scientific Officer at Q Laboratories, Inc., and Martin Wiedmann, Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety at Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Key learning objectives:

From this webinar series, you will learn about:

• Salmonella pathogenicity and transmission from animals to humans
• Method performances assessment according to AOAC Guideline and ISO 16140-2:2016 standard
• An overview of the U.S. National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP)
• The importance of Salmonella as a zoonotic agent in poultry and pork production, and the current European Regulation to fight against specific Salmonella serotypes

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This webinar was originally hosted by Select Science on September 30, 2020

Speakers: Patrick M. Bird, Owner, PMB BioTek Consulting, LLC and Alex Brandt, Ph.D, Chief Science Officer, Food Safety Net Services

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic AOAC INTERNATIONAL has activated an accelerated program to evaluate test kits for detecting coronavirus on surfaces. This webinar presents the audience with a summary of the Emergency Response Validation option of the AOAC Research Institute’s Performance Tested Methods Program and introduces a rapid, PCR test workflow available from Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Key learning points:

• Information about the Emergency Response Validation option of the AOAC Research Institute’s Performance Tested Methods Program
• An overview of the SARS-CoV-2 workflow study design
• Aspects of the decision process important when selecting a method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2
• An overview of the Thermo Scientific™ SARS-CoV-2 PCR workflow for detection of the virus on food packaging and environmental surfaces

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This webinar was originally hosted by New Food Magazine on September 3^rd, 2020.

Speaker: Chris Elliott, Professor of Food Safety and Founder of the Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University 

In this webinar, originally hosted by New Food Magazine, Professor Chris Elliott examines the many different ways that meat fraud can manifest itself. From a dodgy butcher adding sawdust to his sausages to a national scandal involving large parts of the meat industry and government involved in corruption, bribery and cheating. While there are many ways to cheat there are nearly an equal number of ways to try and catch the cheats. We explore these and show how they can be employed at different parts of meat supply chains to have the maximum impact on deterring the fraudsters.

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Speakers:

• Paul in ‘t Veld, Senior Scientist, Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
• Benjamin Diep, Research Scientist, Nestlé Research
• Daniele Sohier, Senior Manager for Global Scientific Affairs – Food Protection, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Key learning points:

• Overview of the ISO 16140 method validation series and how they relate to each other and the food testing laboratory
• Deeper understanding of the requirements for successful implementation of ISO 16140-part 3
• Learn how Thermo Fisher can support a laboratory through the ISO 16140-part 3 process

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This webinar was originally hosted by New Food Magazine in May 2020.

Speakers: Presented by Daniele Sohier and Matthew Hahs

A brief look at how market trends are placing increasing demands on the food testing laboratory and some of the key challenges this presents with regard to pathogen detection. Participants will then learn how Thermo Scientific™ PCR food pathogen solutions can help to overcome these challenges with workflows that; require a low number of handling steps, have proven accuracy, and deliver results in a short timeframe.

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Speakers: Daniele Sohier and Matthew Hahs

Follow the validation journey of a Thermo Scientific food pathogen detection solution through method validation according to ISO 16140-part 2:2016 and learn how Thermo Fisher can support your laboratory with the efficient and successful verification of an alternative method according to ISO 16140-part 3 (due to be published at the end of 2020).

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Speakers: Mario Gadanho and Nicole Prentice

The authenticity of food raw materials, ingredients and finished products is integral to securing and maintaining consumer trust and protecting company brands. A look at the current economic climate and how it is shaping food fraud in different segments and geographical regions of the market will set the scene for understanding how the Thermo Scientific NGS Food Authenticity workflow can be a powerful tool for food manufacturers.

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