Meeting Emerging Product Quality and Safety Challenges

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

7:00 AM

Registration Opens at Krutch Theater Foyer
Continental Breakfast Provided

8:00 AM

Welcoming Remarks by Bruce Godfrey, Ph. D., President, Pacific Southwest Section, AOAC INTERNATIONAL

Session 1: Assessing & Preventing Risks

Session Chair – Sarita Raengpradub Wheeler, Ph.D., Mérieux NutriSciences

Keynote: AOAC INTERNATIONAL Update – Norma R. Hill, 2015-2016 President, AOAC INTERNATIONAL, Treasurer, Pacific Southwest Section

In December 2015, the Chinese Institute for Food Science and Technology invited President Hill to be a keynote speaker at the 2016 International Forum on Food Safety in Beijing. CIFST wanted to introduce AOAC INTERNATIONAL to their delegates and to work towards a partnership with the Association. Following the presentation, Norma Hill was approached by delegates from other developing countries interested in the services that AOAC provides. This is a reprise of that presentation.

8:30 AM

Update on the Food Safety Modernization Act - Mary Ellen Taylor, M.S., Public Affairs Specialist, Office of Communications & Quality Program Management, Office of Regulatory Affairs, FDA

9:00 AM

Identifying Risks Related to Microbiological Contaminants - Willette Crawford, Ph.D., Senior Technical Trainer, SCS Global Services

9:30 AM

Identifying Risks Related to Chemical Contaminants - Grace Bandong, Ph.D., Global Scientific Strategy Leader, Contaminants, Chemistry Solutions, Covance Food Solutions

10:00 AM

BREAK

10:30 AM

Reducing Food Safety Risk Through Environmental Monitoring - Sarita Raengpradub Wheeler, PhD., Mérieux NutriSciences

11:00 AM

Supplier Verification - Maria Fernandez Guajardo, VP of Product, Clear Labs and Ramin Khaksar, Sr. Director of R&D, Clear Labs Supplier ingredient authenticity has been traditionally verified with Certifications of Authenticity (COA) or, in the case of the most advanced manufacturers, with single target methods like PCR. With the increase in complexity of the global supply chain, trust-based or single-target methods supplier verification have significant shortcomings to protect businesses from economically motivated adulteration. Clear Labs universal multiplex system covers both prokaryotes (including archaea and bacteria) and eukaryotes (including animals, plants and fungi). Each organism group’s identification and quantification is supported with multiple DNA barcoding markers. The universal test provides qualitative and quantitative DNA information of all expected and unexpected ingredients, in addition to the test provides DNA information about possible allergens, pathogens and environmental indicators, toxigenic fungi, toxic plants and human contamination might be present in the sample. Also, the Clear Labs universal test provides a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of the microbiome of any tested food, stool and environmental samples. In this presentation application of next generation sequencing technology (NGS), DNA Barcoding and organism identification, bioinformatics algorithms for authenticity testing in the supplier verification context will be discussed. Moreover, we will discuss which food products are better suited for this method with presenting some examples of how business are verifying suppliers and some of the anonymized findings. Also, the solution implementation to the main challenges with the application of this technology for the food industry will be addressed.

11:30 AM

Determination of Vitamin d2/d3 and Pre-vitamin d2/d3 in Pet Food by LCMS/MS - Scott Krepich, Sr. Field Application Scientist, Phenomenex, Torrance, CA Vitamin D is an essential fat soluble vitamin, most known for its requirement in bone formation in animals amongst a myriad of other likely beneficial functions. The consensus is that Vitamin D3 is the most biologically active form, and thus needs to be distinguished apart from Vitamin D2, periodically sourced from some plants and mushrooms. The isomeric forms, pre-vitamin D2 and pre-vitamin D3, are also important to quantify accurately without disrupting their natural equilibrium to accurately assess their source. Presented, is an LCMSMS method with a simplified saponification and extraction procedure suitable for a variety of pet food samples.

12:00 PM

LUNCH

Session 2: Identifying Problems & Tracing Back to the Risk

Session Chair – Syrago–Styliani Petropoulou, Ph.D., Research Scientist III

Cal EPA, DTSC, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory

1:00 PM

Whole Genome Sequencing & Food/Product Traceback Investigations - Mustafa Simmons, PhD., USDA Food Safety Inspection Service FSIS began the implementation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) in FY14 in support of their Strategic Plan Goal to effectively use science to understand foodborne illness and emerging trends. Currently there are 7 Illumina MiSeq sequencers across the 3 FSIS field laboratories. Approximately 3500 isolates have been sequenced by FSIS, and currently all bacterial isolates from all FSIS regulated products are being sequenced in real time. Using various scripts and software packages, FSIS is able to determine serotype, presence of virulence factors, presence of antibiotic resistance genes, 7 gene MLST type, and inferred phylogenetic relationship to other isolates. Using this information FSIS can use WGS data for various applications including: identifying food isolates that may be associated with clinical illnesses, identifying harborage or persistence of Listeria monocytogenes in food processing environments, and identifying emerging trends in the presence of genes that confer antibiotic resistance. WGS is currently being performed in addition to traditional subtyping means such as PFGE, in doing so FSIS has observed situation in which WGS can exclude isolates from a cluster despite having the same PFGE pattern as well as include isolates with different PFGE patterns. During this time FSIS is developing policies related to WGS as well working with its public health partners to develop both common language and nomenclature with respect to both describing outbreak investigations as well as results.

1:30 PM

Pathogen Source Tracking in Produce Production Environments- Robert Mandrell, Ph.D., Consultant and Former Research Leader, Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, USDA Agriculture Research Service The health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables and year-round availability of many produce commodities has led to increased consumption in the United States and other western countries. However, increased consumption has correlated with a rise in the number of foodborne outbreaks associated with fresh produce. Logical sources of pathogens are known, but definitive explanations of how pathogens appear in fields and on produce are not clear. Biotic or abiotic processes linking primary pathogen reservoirs to fields (e.g. wildlife, water, dust, foliar applications) are dynamic and difficult to identify. Tracking reservoirs and movement of pathogens in the environment require intensive sampling and accurate molecular strain characterization. Information obtained from a continuing survey of a major leafy greens production region, “The Salad Bowl of the US”, will be presented, including a summary of fresh produce outbreaks associated with enteric pathogens; incidence, sources and fitness of pathogens in the environment; methods for tracking pathogens; and outcomes from recent investigations. Environmental isolates matching human outbreak strains by common fingerprinting methods (e.g. PFGE, MLVA) are intriguing, but point to the need for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) for enhancing microbial source tracking studies in complex produce production environments. Some third generation WGS technologies also provide epigenetic data (e.g. methylation) that may provide insight into the functional differences among clinical versus environmental strains relevant to fitness and virulence.

2:00 PM

California’s Response to the 2015/2016 Domoic Acid Event: Managing Human Health Risks Associated with Seafood Consumption - Susan Klasing, PhD., Senior Toxicologist, Chief, Fish, Ecotoxicology and Water Section, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, CalEPA

2:30 PM

BREAK

Session 3: Searching for Unknown Risks

Session Chair – Brooke Schwartz, Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Rheonix, Inc.

3:00 PM

Non-Targeted Screening (NTS) Analysis of Foods for Chemical Contaminants - Travis Falconer Ph.D., FDA Forensic Chemistry Center Due to the vast chemical space occupied by foods and their possible contaminants, it is impossible to screen for all chemical risks by a single method, particularly a targeted one. However, a non‐targeted approach allows for the broadest scope of potential contaminants, including those that are not suspected to be present. The tools employed in non‐targeted analyses will be described, with special emphasis given to liquid chromatography coupled to high‐resolution mass spectrometry (LC‐HRMS). Several real‐world examples will be provided in which non‐targeted analysis was used to identify unknown chemical risks.

3:30 PM

NTS Applications for Food Safety & Industry Uses - Paul Winkler, Ph.D., Sciex

4:00 PM

Introduction to Metagenomics & Applications to Food Safety and Quality - Trevor Suslow, Ph.D., Extension Research Specialist, Dept. of Vegetable Crops, Mann Lab, University of California at Davis

4:30 PM

The Consortium for Sequencing the Food Supply Chain - James Kaufman, Ph.D., IBM Distinguished Research Staff Member and Mars-IBM Food Safety Consortium

5:30 – 8:00 PM

PRESIDENT’S RECEPTION

Thursday, February 16, 2017