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AIFST 2022 Food MIcrobiology conference 

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AIFST was pleased to present the 2022 Food microbiology conference on Tuesday 5 April 2022.

Reducing the burden of foodborne illness and harnessing the potential of microorganisms are vital issues for everyone involved along the food supply chain. This conference will speak to the challenges, complexity, and opportunities posed by microorganisms in our food supply. In doing so we seek to raise the profile of food microbiology and the importance of ongoing research and development activities in the field.

The conference was presented as a virtual event, offering a content-rich, day-long program focusing on the Australian food safety landscape.

The program hosts an excellent selection of speakers addressing topics from the burden of foodborne illness to factors impacting the supply of safe and trusted food. Plus, there will a series of moderated question and answer sessions where you can engage with the speakers.

Our goal is to deliver a professionally rewarding experience, which will provide a platform to make professional contacts, and takeaways that will elevate your knowledge of current issues in food microbiology.

The Food microbiology conference will be of interest and relevance to personnel across the entire food industry, as well as food regulators, academics, researchers, and Government officials.

Thank you to our event Partners:



         

SPEAKER PROFILES


Dr Stan Bailey

bioMerieux Sr. Scientific Advisor

Trends in Food Microbiology - The Good, Bad and Ugly

Based on his 49 year experience, Dr. Bailey will review the past, current and future trends in how microbes affect food and beverage production, food quality and human health.

About Stan

Dr. Bailey has authored or co-authored over 600 scientific publications in the area of food microbiology, concentrating on controlling Salmonella in poultry production and processing, Salmonella methodology, Listeria methodology, and rapid methods of identification. Dr. Bailey is currently the Senior Scientific Advisor for bioMerieux Industry and served as the President of The International Association for Food Protection in 2008-2009. In 2002, he was named Outstanding Senior Research Scientist for the USDA, Agricultural Research Service and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and The International Association for Food Protection. Dr. Bailey received his B.S. in Environmental Health Sciences, M.S. in Food Science, and Ph.D. in Poultry Science all from the University of Georgia.


Dr Tom Lewis

RDS Partners

Positive role of microorganisms in food production

Tom Lewis is an industry R&D facilitator, having worked along and across the Australian food industry’s production-research interface of since gaining his undergraduate degree sometime too long ago to remember.

Tom’s background is in microbiology and aquaculture, and, amongst other things, he was a co-founder of such industry-focussed organisations as the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence, the Allergen Bureau and FermenTasmania (a role for which he received the AIFST Presidents’ Award in 2019).

Tom is an advocate of the positive role microorganisms play in our lives and will provide a broad overview of this perspective of our wee friends as a precursor to the array of presentations in this year’s conference.

Dr Mark Turner

Associate Professor in Food Microbiology, University of Queensland 

Fermentation of plant-based dairy alternatives

About Mark

Mark is a Professor of Food Microbiology and Deputy Head of the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland. He leads a research team in the area of food fermentation, quality and safety with current funding from the Australian Research Council. His current research focus is in lactic acid bacteria physiology (stress signalling) and applications (plant-based dairy alternatives, cheese cultures, anti-fungal and anti-pathogen biocontrol). He teaches into food microbiology, food safety and food biotechnology courses at UQ and is a Fellow of the ASM and AIFST as well as a member of the editorial boards of mBio and Journal of Food Protection. He was the recipient of the 2017 AIFST Keith Farrer Award of Merit.


Dr Malik Hussain

Associate Professor in Innovative Food Production, Western Sydney University

Probiotics and the food supply - the human microbiome

Probiotics are living microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed in adequate amounts. They also help to colonise gut with healthy and beneficial microbiota. The two main sources of probiotics include fermented foods and dietary supplements. Probiotics have been used for centuries in fermented dairy products, which are considered the most natural source. Over the last few years, many studies have been carried out to develop non-dairy probiotic products. Our current food supply has a variety of food products, which contain probiotics naturally or have probiotics added to them. Examples of such food products include yogurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, pickles, miso, tempeh, kimchi, sourdough bread and some cheeses. Probiotics also play an important role in restoring the composition of the gut microbiome and maintaining healthy gut microbial communities.

About Malik

Dr Malik Hussain is an Associate Professor in Innovative Food Production at Western Sydney University. He is an experienced food scientist with a specialisation in food microbiology and biotechnology. He has received a PhD degree in food microbiology from the University of Melbourne. He has also received several academic awards and fellowships including the prestigious OECD fellowship in 2014 to work at the Guelph Food Research Centre, Canada. Over the last 25 years, he worked at world-renowned universities, research institutes, and food regulatory agencies including the New South Wales Food Authority and the Victorian Department of Health. His professional expertise covers multiple disciplines such as novel foods, probiotics, food safety, risk assessment, food standards and regulation. He is affiliated with several international professional associations including the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST).