Experts Gather To Discuss the Future of Genomics

We invite you to read our latest publication in Food Manufacture Magazine that explores the groundbreaking potential of genomics in contamination incident management. In this thought-provoking roundtable discussion, industry experts shed light on how genomics is transforming microbial risk management and transforming food safety incident management in the food industry as a whole.

Mars Associate Alan Littlechild (AL), VP Global Quality R&D Systems at Mars Wrigley, joined Celina To (CT), from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, and Eric Brown (EB) from the US FDA to share expertise and insights on how the food industry is leveraging genomics to enhance food safety practices and help resolve contamination incidents. Read an excerpt from the article below:

Genomics and gene sequencing are ushering in a new dawn for microbial risk management, how will this technology revolutionize the food industry?

AL: The globalization of food production and trade has made food supply chains longer and complicated foodborne disease outbreak investigations are now here to help keep people safe. The Food Standards Agency estimates that of the 600 million cases of foodborne illness globally each year (WHO), 2.4 million cases occur in the UK, costing a total burden of £9bn. In addition to ensuring ongoing high standards of quality and food safety, a key part of the solution is developing scientific capabilities that can help to prevent microbial contamination in the first place. This helps protect health, strengthen food supply chains, and reduce food waste which in turn helps protect the planet’s resources.

CT: Traditional methods for microbial testing can be time-consuming and may not recover all viable but non-culturable microbes, which impacts the perception on the size and severity of a contamination event and can make it difficult for food manufacturers to quickly identify and respond to potential food safety issues. This is where the strength of genomics, specifically Metagenomic Shotgun Sequencing (mWGS) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), lies.

EB: DNA sequencing, is already beginning to permanently change the food safety landscape. It is now regularly used by industry and the public health community to pinpoint specific sources of contamination on farms and in facilities. It can quickly ascertain the nature of a food contamination event, revealing whether it comes from a persistent strain or from a sporadic source outside of a facility such as a raw ingredient.

AL: Genomics is an exciting and rapidly evolving area of science and technology and a key focus for the food manufacturing industry.  Since 2015 Mars has been working with partners in microbial risk management investing in capabilities, including genomics, through our Mars Advance Research Institute and Global Food Safety Center.   Looking ahead, the food industry needs to leverage tools like WGS that can help connect events and crucially, take us to a predictive and preventative space.

We encourage you to dive deeper into this fascinating subject by reading the full article in Food Manufacture Magazine. (https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2023/06/07/using-genomics-for-microbial-risk-management-in-food-and-drink-production)