The food microbiological analyst: pairing tradition with the future
Prudence Bramwell A * , Dean Clarke B and Thishakya de Silva BA School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic. Australia.
B National Measurement Institute (NMI), Port Melbourne, Vic. Australia.
Prudence Bramwell is an Honorary Associate Professor at RMIT University. She has over 30 years’ experience in food microbiology. Prior to her 25 years at RMIT as an academic educator in the fields of food microbiology and food safety, she has held positions in Microbiology at both the University of Melbourne and University of Sydney and at the Australian Government Analytical Laboratories (the latter now amalgamated into the National Measurement Institute) in the field of microbiological analysis. While at AGAL she was a registered NATA auditor of Biological Laboratories. While at RMIT she held certificates as an advanced food safety auditor and associate quality auditor with Exemplar Global. Her research interests are in methods for the isolation and identification of foodborne microbes. |
Dean Clarke is a Microbiologist and Biochemist with dual interests in Food Microbiology and Food Allergens. Dean is the senior microbiologist and manager of the Australian National Measurement Institutes’ Microbiology and Allergen Laboratories in Port Melbourne. He is an authorised Public Analyst under the Victorian Food Act and Health Act and a NATA auditor for Food Allergens and Food/Water Microbiology. Dean has a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Biochemistry from LaTrobe University and is a founding member and convener of the Australian Allergen Testing – Special Interest Group (AT-SIG). He has over 20 years’ experience in immunologically based food analysis for allergens, speciation, microbiological organisms and toxins. |
Thish de Silva is the Research and Development Coordinator for the Analytical Services Branch of the National Measurement Institute, Australia (NMIA). Thish’s professional expertise range from food and health Sciences. She has a PhD in Biotechnology working towards perfecting the Australian Strawberry Varieties, a project funded by Horticulture Australia in collaboration with RMIT University. Over the past 7 years she was involved with development of methods for bacterial filtration efficiency measurements for surgical masks and to measure efficacy of hand sanitisers, effectively addressing Australia’s COVID measurement gaps, and developing tools to measure antibacterial activity in Australian honey types supporting the honey industry. Thish also closely works with universities by facilitating collaborative research and post graduate student placements at the NMI. When invited, she supports NATA and Standards Australia with their technical assessments and technical committees respectively. Her research interests are in food safety and quality assurance. |
Microbiology Australia 43(2) 57-60 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA22024
Submitted: 23 March 2022 Accepted: 21 April 2022 Published: 17 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the ASM. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Choosing methods for the detection, isolation and identification of foodborne pathogens or spoilage microorganisms from foodstuffs is a complex task. Although there are standard food microbiology methods available around the world, many have changed little in decades, while some tests take many days to perform. The use of automated technologies, genomics and rapid methods are now replacing many traditional tests. Food microbiology analysts need to understand the underlying science and limitations of these methods for food analysis and the crucial importance of validation protocols for correct results reported to customers. This article discusses the current status of food microbiology analysis in commercial laboratories, what the future food microbiology analytic laboratory looks like, and the education changes that may be required to become a future food microbiology analyst.
Keywords: food safety, food spoilage, foodborne disease, genomics, method validation, PCR, rapid methods, WGS.
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