UK launches microbiology safety programme

The meeting takes place at St Catherine's College, University of Oxford, on 29-30 June 2006.

Programme reviews are intended to provide interested parties with the opportunity to discuss the work that has been funded by the agency and to help identify priorities for the future.

The fight against food-borne bacteria such as E. coli O157, and diseases such as avian influenza, has become front-page news. Highly publicised food scares have created a great deal of alarm among consumers, with the result that confidence in the food industry is low.

Ongoing growth in the global €3.2 trillion food production, processing, distribution and preparation industries has also led to growing pressure on the food chain to minimise outbreaks of food borne diseases. In industrialised countries, the percentage of people suffering from foodborne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30 per cent.

In the US alone, sixty-one deaths and 73,000 illnesses - such as bloody diarrhoea and haemorrhagic colitis - are blamed on eating foods contaminated with E. coli each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The St Catherine's College event will focus on evaluating the current Domestic Sector Hygiene programme (B20) together with relevant consumer focused research projects from the Microbiological Risk Management programme (B13). It will include a series of presentations by the project leaders, focused discussions, and opportunities for questions and answers.

The FSA says that all interested parties are welcome to attend the event. Attendance is free, but attendees will be expected to pay their own travelling expenses.

Numbers are limited and early registration is recommended. The deadline for registration is Thursday 1 June 2006.