New edition of the “Workshop on Rapid Methods and Automation in Food Microbiology”

From 20 to 23 November the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine will host the 17th edition of the “Workshop on Rapid Methods and Automation in Food Microbiology”,which aims to expand and disseminate the new methods used in detecting and identifying the most common microorganisms found in food and water.

19/10/2018

Lasting four days, the workshop will include presentations by prestigious international and local experts, practical laboratory sessions, workshops, round tables and over a dozen microbiology companies exhibiting their products.

The opening lecture will be offered by José Juan Rodríguez Jerez, lecturer of the UAB Department of Animal and Food Science, who will offer a general vision on the rapid and miniaturised methods and automation in microbiology.

Other speakers attending the workshop are Armand Sánchez Bonastre (UAB Department of Animal and Food Science), who will speak on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and massive genome sequencing applied to food safety; Pablo de Vicente López (Spanish Association for Standardisation and Certification-AENOR) will explain the process of standardisation and certification of ISO 16140 for rapid methods in microbiology; Glòria Sánchez Moragas (Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos-IATA, CSIC) will give a conference on food-transmitted viruses: relevance and detection methods and Àngels Garcia Pascual (La Sirena frozen food retailer) will explain the contribution of microbiology laboratories to frozen food retailers.

Some of the international speakers participating in this year's edition include Julio César Lamela Pérez from the Instituto Uruguayo de Normas Técnicas -UNIT- / Cooperativa Nacional de Productores de Leche -Conaprole-, Montevideo, Uruguay, who will speak on the cross-contamination in the food industry: mechanisms of bacterial persistence. Practical cases; Kurt Houf from the University of Gant in Belgium will speak on “Identification and Characterisation of Food Pathogens: where do MALDI and genomics fit in?" and David Tomás Fornés from Nestec, Nestlé's Research Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, will present new ISO reference methods and alternative methods. Impact on food microbiology laboratories.

The last day will be dedicated to practical workshops. This year's edition will include microbiological dangers in APPCC systems; food fraud in certification systems; the use of resources for predictive microbiology available on the internet and interlaboratory assay programme as a key indicator of quality.

There also will be two round tables focused on the daily activities of microbiological control in the industry, and on instrumentation, market trends and other current issues.

The programme will be rounded off this year with company presentations on the latest technical advances in the sector.

The MRAMA workshop is aimed at industry directors and technicians, consultants and food laboratories, and other related sectors(microbiological, clinical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemistry, environmental, and other similar sectors); veterinary inspectors and other administrative personnel; undergraduate and graduate students, technical staff and university lecturers, as well as research staff.

17th Workshop on Rapid Methods and Automation in Food Microbiology (MRAMA)