The EURL for Listeria monocytogenes participated to the IAFP Europe symposium on food safety organised 24-26 Avril 2019 in Nantes, France. During the plenary opening conference, Benjamin Félix as invited participant, presented the description of the EURL for Lm participated to the investigation of nine multi-country outbreak investigations in collaboration with the NRLs, EFSA and ECDC. These investigations were conducted using whole genome sequencing methods. The EURL was in charge of...

We are delighted to inform you that  ISO 20976-1 : 2019 “Microbiology of the food chain -- Requirements and guidelines for conducting challenge tests of food and feed products -- Part 1: Challenge tests to study growth potential, lag time and maximum growth rate”  is now published ! You can find it on the ISO web site at the following address : https://www.iso.org/standard/69673.html. The time has come now  for us  to set up the revision of  the...

Bertrand LOMBARD, as EURL Lm representative, presented the amendment to the EURL Lm Technical Guidance Document on shelf-life studies at the meeting of the EC Standing Committee on plants, animals, food and feed (PAFF)-Section Biological Safety of the Food Chain, held in Brussels on 11 February 2019. This amendment, modifying the temperature profile to conduct challenge tests, has been unanimously adopted by the EU Member States. The amended version is available on the front page of the...

Bertrand LOMBARD, as EURL Lm representative, has been invited by ECDC (Johanna TAKKINEN, on the picture, at new ECDC offices) to participate to the annual meeting of the microbiologists of the Food, Water-borne Disease and Zoonosis Network (6 February afternoon) and of the whole network (microbiologists from the national public health laboratories as well as epidemiologists from the national surveillance institutes, 7-8 February), see the programmes, enclosed. This meeting, very well organised...

We are pleased to announce you that Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/229 of 7 February 2019, amending EC Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs, has been published on 8 February 2019. It modifies in particular: The Lm criteria for sprouted seeds: in the second indent of footnote 4 to criteria 1.1 and 1.3, the terms ‘excluding sprouted seeds,’ are deleted. The justification is given in recital (5): “Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005...

October 2018, EURL Lm visited NWVA (associated NL-NRL for Lm, Wageningen, Netherlands) to disscuss and share skills in WGS analysis. We have performed the cluster analysis on a selection of a panel of 10 genomes with the in-house pipeline of the NVWA (Variant Discovery) and the Anses in-house pipeline (iVARCall2). A perfect correlation between the two in-house pipelines was observed.

This Joint scientific Conference on Foodborne pathogens and whole Genome Sequencing is organised in Paris from Tuesday 26 to Thursday 28 March by Anses (France) / BfR (Germany) / DTU Food (Denmark) / NIFDS (South Korea).   Fuelled by the reduction in the cost of sequencing and the exceptionally rapid development of algorithmic and calculation resources, the medical, agronomic and food sectors have been shaken by the genomic revolution. At the initiative of four national...

Bertrand LOMBARD organised on 13 December the 2nd web-meeting of a working group preparing a guidance document on the organisation of proficiency tests (PTs) by NRLs for the national networks of official laboratories they coordinate. This EURLs working group is composed of representatives from EURLs Salmonella, Campylobacter, VTEC, Listeria monocytogenes and Coagulase Positive Staphylococci, The draft is based on a EURL Listeria monocytogenes document dealing with partial outsourcing of...

Bertrand LOMBARD participated virtually (teleconference) to a part of the last meeting of the Working Group 3 on method validation of the subcommitte ISO/TC 34/SC 9 “Food products-Microbiology”. It took place on 4-6 December 2018 at Sciensano (BE-NRL for Listeria monocytogenes & coagulase positive staphylococci, Brussels). WG 3 is in charge of developing the series EN ISO 16140 on method validation/verification in food chain microbiology. This meeting was mainly...

The working group 17 of  ISO/TC 34/SC 9 has conducted the revision of EN ISO 18593:2018 on Horizontal methods for surface sampling in the frame of microbiology of the food chain. This working group chaired by Léna Barre (EURL for Listeria monocytogenes) was composed by 24 members and 5 observers coming from all around the world. This CEN ISO standard published in June 2018 specifies horizontal methods for sampling techniques using contact plates, stick swabs, sponges and...