ABSTRACT
Food microbiology is a relatively new applied science that continues to grow in size and scope. Although the study of microorganisms in foods and beverages can be traced back many years, contemporary food microbiology as an applied discipline is more recent and has roots in dairy, food, and environmental sanitation (Jay et al. 2005). Food microbiology encompasses safety and quality aspects of foods and food processing, but it can also involve antimicrobials and biocides, detection and enumeration methodology, fermentation optimization, and many other topics. Food microbiology also in™uences and informs public health activities like outbreak prevention and detection and trace-back investigation, principally through the use of laboratory data and results of on-site investigations (Guzewich et al. 1997). Food microbiology continues to evolve rapidly in consort with new food product and ingredient development as well
1.1 What is food microbiological research and development? ................. 1 1.2 Microbial research: Foundation of food safety and quality systems .... 3 1.3 Understanding products and processes ................................................ 5 1.4 Finding and mitigating risks .................................................................. 8 1.5 Competitive aspects: Intellectual property and return on
investment ................................................................................................ 10 1.6 Proactive food safety and quality systems ......................................... 12 1.7 Outsourcing microbial research and development to contract
labs, universities, and consultants ........................................................ 14 1.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 16 References .......................................................................................................... 17
as with advancement of clinical diagnosis of disease, epidemiology, and pathogen detection technology.
