1.5b Do UK businesses monitor for the correct pathogens in food?
Background
Foodborne disease (FBD) is a major public health risk with 2.4 million individual illnesses and more than 16,000 hospitalisations per year. It imposes an annual burden on society equivalent to £9.1 billion. The majority of human foodborne disease is caused by a handful of pathogens (including norovirus, campylobacter, salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and listeria) which, in most cases, enter the food chain from farmed animals or the environment.
In addition to FBD, the agri-food supply chain also poses a risk for the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Addressing the public health threat posed by AMR is an ongoing strategic priority for the UK and the Government has recently published its new 5-year AMR National Action Plan (NAP) 2024-29 (Opens in a new window), which sets out actions to slow the development and spread of AMR.
The overarching aim of this research priority is to provide evidence to enable the FSA to better control the spread of FBD and AMR within the food supply chain. For both threats, taking a ‘One Health’ approach is important, to understand the sources (e.g. livestock) and routes (e.g. food and environment) of infection and ultimately the impact (e.g. on humans).
As well as characterising new and emerging threats, we need to build our current understanding as to the attribution, prevalence, and nature of existing FBD and AMR risks, filling key evidence gaps which will support improved control measures and enhance food hygiene policy. We are also seeking to build capability in this area through development of new surveillance methods, which in turn can support the FSA’s work on trade and border inspections, as well as supporting broader disease and incident management.
Next steps
Get in touch: [email protected]
Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Topics
No topics assigned yet
Research fields
No research fields assigned yet
Related UKRI funded projects
-
Expansion of the Food Safety Research Network to create and mobilise new capabilities that act on microbial risk
UK consumers expect their food to be safe, and food producers and government are vigilant and work diligently to ensure safety of food supplies. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) reports that food-associated incidents are ...
Funded by: BBSRC
Lead research organisation: Quadram Institute Bioscience
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on microbial risk in food safety, including pathogens like Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, which are relevant to monitoring for correct pathogens in food.
-
Development of rapid testing technology to increase food security
During the COVID-19 pandemic shortage of labour to harvest and process crops led to a decrease in food supply when demand was increased for fresh produce as consumers increased their intake of fresh fruits and vegetables...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: MOLENDOTECH LIMITED
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on developing rapid testing technology for pathogen identification in food, which directly addresses the question of monitoring for pathogens in food.
-
Development of the PurifAI Data Dashboard: An integrated, AI-based platform for Real-Time Diagnostics and Analytics in Food Safety.
Foodborne illnesses affect 600 million people globally each year, causing 420,000 deaths and significant economic losses across the food supply chain. Contamination incidents cost the global food industry billions annual...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: AMPED PCR LTD
Why might this be relevant?
The project develops an integrated AI-based platform for real-time diagnostics and analytics in food safety, which partially addresses the question by focusing on pathogen detection and providing actionable data.