October 01, 2019
Food borne illness is a serious concern for public health however, detecting contaminated food can be a slow process. Firstly, potentially contaminated food needs to be identified, then it needs to be tested, and then removed from stores. This process can take days or weeks, which means people may continue to get sick from the product before a public recall is announced.
Researchers from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have now found a way to streamline this process, making product recall much faster. By investigating the genomes of infectious organisms like E. coli and salmonella the team now has a new tool for detecting contaminated food. By matching DNA from organisms found in potentially contaminated food, and organisms found in people who are sick from eating the food, they can determine exactly which organism is making them unwell. This precise matching of genomes is much faster than traditional methods; a few days instead of potentially weeks.
The new technique will allow decisions to be made much faster about recalling contaminated foods from stores, which will reduce the number of people who become ill after eating it. Not only this, but by knowing what caused the contamination, food producers may be able to prevent future contaminations.
Source: CBC
Read more: http://ow.ly/WZke50wtYpJ
