News

Fuelled by cost reduction of sequencing and development at an exceptional pace of algorithmic and calculation resources, the medical, agronomic and food sectors are shaken by the genomic revolution. At the initiative of four national institutions working on food safety and risk assessment in France, Denmark, Germany, and South Korea, the conference will bring together researchers, risk assessors and risk managers for an update on the impact that whole genome sequencing (WGS) approachesalready have and will have in the near future in the food safety area. The scientific presentations will cover recent developments in the WGS data-based methods used in outbreaks detections, investigations and in epidemiological surveillance. The bioinformatics methods and platforms to characterize foodborne pathogens and interpret phenotypic variations (e.g. virulence, antimicrobial resistance and persistence) will be presented, while refinement of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) models with the implementation of the new comprehensive genomic data will be discussed. More the potential of metagenomics in the food safety field, with a special focus on virology will also be addressed. Two rounds tables with representatives of major international public health institutions to discuss actions to promote genomics approaches will close the meeting. To follow the news of the conference on social networks: #FoodSafetyWGS2019.