Food Protection Trends - November 2010 - 694

increasing number of outbreaks associated with them around the globe. Dr. Fratamico started her lecture with a brief description of various shiga toxin-producing E. coli and their virulence factors and then highlighted major sources associated with human and cattle infections. At the end Dr. Fratamico emphasized the need for further research in this area, as many virulence factors associated with these organisms are known but the combinations of factors which make some Shiga-toxinproducing E. coli so virulent are yet to be discovered. Dr. L’Etoile from bioMérieux, in her presentation titled “Development of Novel Methods for the Detection of STEC,” spoke on current and new methods available to detect STEC. She started with the current EU approach to identifying STEC, which involves serological testing for five major serological groups, followed by PCR. This traditional approach is labor-intensive and time consuming; bioMérieux is working on a phage-based immunoseperation technique that is very specific and can be utilized after enrichment to isolate target organisms from a large background flora. At the end, Dr. L’Etoile emphasized the need for development of new methods for STEC detection. Alex Gil, of the Bureau of Microbial Standards, Health Canada, presented a brief review of Canada’s approach to VTEC detection in his lecture titled “Canada’s VTEC Research Network.” In this lecture, he discussed Canada’s VTEC research network and varieties of VTEC detection techniques developed and utilized by this network. Stefano Morabito, from the Dipartimento di Sanita Pubblica Veterinaria e Sicurezza Alimentare, Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome, Italy, spoke on STEC in the EU. He began with a discussion of STEC’s zoonotic origins. Overall, the talk stressed the importance of monitoring STEC and how that was key to controlling outbreaks. The next talk, by Michael Cooley of the Western Regional Research Center, USDA, Albany, CA, gave an overview of his team’s environmental sampling project that collects water, produce, and fecal and soil samples. Of the 4200 isolated STECs, 2/3 are generally stx II positive. Also, the researchers have noted some persistence in the soil. Mr. Cooley discussed what the initial sources of contamination could be. The session concluded with a panel discussion led by Jeff Farber of Health Canada. The audience had many questions for the panel, which led to an interesting, lively debate on the future of looking at other STEC serogroups in industry, rather than just O157.

S17 — The Salmonella Smorgasbord: The Problem with Too Many Choices Martha Kimber and Armitra Jackson
Salmonella has been a persistent problem in the food industry. This symposium presented a variety of topics and conundrums surrounding Salmonella and food safety. Paula Fedorka-Cray and Roger Cook, who invited a wide range of researchers and industry professionals to weigh in on the topic, organized this session. The first talk, “Niche Displacement: Can You Really Find a Renter?” was presented by Paula Fedorka-Cray (USDAARS-BEAR, Athens, GA, USA), who discussed the need

for a session on this topic and some of the challenges involved in studying such a complex issue. This talk was followed by “Country Specific Serotypes: Why Some Salmonella Never Seem to Travel,” presented by Julian Cox (The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia), who discussed how some serovars seem to be indigenous to certain locales and offered a few hypotheses on how this might occur. “The Slugfest — Why Some Salmonella Outcompete Others,” presented by Jason Richardson (Coca Cola, Atlanta, GA, USA), continued the discussion of the wide variety of Salmonella serovars and the inherent difficulties and limitations in isolating them. Bob Reinhard’s (Sara Lee Corporation, Downer’s Grove, IL, USA) presentation was entitled “Salmonella — A Regulatory Challenge for Industry?” This presentation focused on the public health significance of a Salmonella outbreak. The establishment of the White House Food Safety Working Group was discussed and an overview was given of its three principles (prevention of harm to consumers, enforcement and data analysis, and identification and stopping of outbreaks quickly). Reference was made to the primary objectives of industry as related to the control of Salmonella. These objectives were to: (1) produce a safe product, (2) validate operational conditions, and (3) identify changes in sanitary conditions (through environmental monitoring) that may lead to the contamination of product. Regulatory challenges such as regulation of environmental monitoring, sanitation and preventative controls were also discussed. Shawn Bearson (USDA-ARS-NADC, Ames, IA, USA), in a talk entitled “A Blast from the Past? Why We Need to Build a Better Host,” discussed why Salmonella contamination is such a difficult problem to solve. In addition, the prevalence of Salmonella in U.S. swine operations was discussed. Challenges associated with identifying which animals are carriers (and therefore can become shedders) were highlighted. A summary of research that involved low shedder swine versus high shedder swine was given. The final presenter, Mark E. Berrand (USDA-ARSBEAR, Athens, GA, USA), spoke on “Salmonella in Broiler Processing — Serotype and Chemical Processing Aids.” This presentation focused on the role of USDA-FSIS in regulation of the presence of Salmonella on broiler carcasses. Some of the limitations associated with culture methods were discussed. In addition, allowable antibacterial chemical processing aids and research on the efficacy of these aids were described. An overview of a 2005—2006 study that involved the use of many different chemical inventions to control Salmonella was given.

S18 — European Concept on Hygiene Monitoring in the Food Supply Chain — “Farm-to-Fork” Concept in Practice Jack Ofori and Jessica Butler
The EU, which was formed in 1993, comprises 27 member states with 500 million inhabitants. The EU was set up to eliminate frontiers and to provide a common market for goods and services. Within the EU, there are 282 border inspection posts. The EU has a comprehensive food safety strategy that is responsible for ensuring

694 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | NOVEMBER 2010

Food Protection Trends - November 2010

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