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MATPROG-Matprogrammet: Norsk mat fra sjø og land

TRACKING SOURCES OF MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION ALONG THE FOOD CHAIN BY FTIR SPECTROSCOPY

Awarded: NOK 4.2 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

186809

Project Period:

2008 - 2010

Organisation:

Partner countries:

The food chain is becoming more and more complex since various products, materials, different processing steps etc. are involved, with the consequence that possible sources for microbial contamination are various. This complexity makes it difficult to tra ce microbial safety problems that occur in final products back to their origin. The proposed project is aiming at establishing a novel method, FTIR spectroscopy for tracking sources of microbial contamination along the process line. The main advantages of FTIR spectroscopy is that it can be applied to all types of microorganisms that can be cultivated, its low running costs, speed, the ease of its use with at the same time a high specificity. This will in future help the food industry to solve more rapidl y safety problems and to reduce costs for trouble shooting. FTIR spectroscopy has been used for microbial identification for more then two decades, and the ability of the technique to discriminate between microorganisms at the species/subspecies level has been proven. The crucial idea of the proposed project is to relate an FTIR spectral signature of a microorganism that is identified as a contamination in the final product, to the spectral signatures of microorganisms isolated at possible sources of con tamination. This approach will allow instantaneously detecting the source of contamination. In the proposed project this trouble shooting approach will be developed and implemented in industry. During the project protocols for sampling, cultivation and p reparation for FTIR measurement will be optimized. A source tracking database will be developed that contains historical data as spectral signatures of isolated microorganisms together with information about their origin in the food chain. Data analysis t ools such as standardization tools, source tracking algorithms and identification tools will be developed.

Funding scheme:

MATPROG-Matprogrammet: Norsk mat fra sjø og land