20 Jul 2023

The rising global demand for probiotic products has led to an increased need for robust testing methods to verify their composition, strain identity, viability, and contaminants. The conventional testing methods are inadequate to meet the growing demand for testing in global trade. In response to these challenges, next-generation sequencing (NGS) has emerged as a promising tool for probiotics testing.

Recognizing the importance of addressing these issues, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and University of Malaya, Malaysia are supporting the guidelines development and laboratory capacity building for probiotics testing. An expert committee comprising representatives from field experts in the APEC economies, has been established to foster discussions, capacity building, and networking, enabling communication to enhance cross-border collaboration on probiotics management.

This presentation will discuss the concerns in probiotics testing for quality and safety, challenges in implementing NGS for probiotics testing, method standardization, as well as the ways forward.

As per WHO study, unsafe food leads to foodborne illness in 600 million people worldwide. Access to safe and nutritious food is important to support life leading to good health. Implementing a food safety management system plays a key role in limiting food safety incidents in food production facilities.

Environmental monitoring of pathogens (EMP) is one of the important pre-requisites of HACCP program because it ensures the microbiological safety of the environment where food is manufactured. EMP is an effective tool in monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation procedures and can act as a predictive tool by providing early indications of biological food safety incidents. Typically, EMP program has four tier approach where in different areas of manufacturing facility is divided in four zones and monitored at a set frequency.

We would be discussing on the best practices followed in EMP programs across food industries along with case studies where EMP has been used to reduce food safety challenges.

At the 2023 AOAC SEA 2nd Annual Conference, the audience will learn from industry leaders about the whole landscape of pathogen identification and/or quantification methods, ranging from long established approaches to the most leading edge technologies including rapid testing, MALDI mass spectrometry, and flow cytometry.

To support the community, AOAC SEA offers two complimentary workshops. One of them is on Assuring Microbiological Quality of Food.

In this workshop and throughout the conference, the audience will learn about food safety requirements and challenges of the industry, pathogen identification and quantification methods (PCR, MALDI MS, Flow Cytometry, etc), AOAC microbiology method validation, and participation in proficiency testing schemes.

This workshop is particularly suitable for any laboratory/manufacturer that wants to expand their scope of testings, develop and validate new methods to suit their own needs, or improve the efficiency and productivity of the operation.

This year’s conference will be well attended by many from the academia (universities from 8 countries), food manufacturing (the likes of Abbott and Nestle), testing laboratories and representatives from the government agencies.

If you are interested in attending the conference, please register early to avoid system hiccups and unnecessary delays. Deadline for conference registration is 23 Jul 2023.

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