J. David Legan, PhD
Director of Science
David earned his Ph.D. in Food Technology from the University of Reading in the UK by modeling the ecology of mixed microbial populations, and then moved to Campden BRI in a variety of microbiological food safety research and client service roles. During that time, he was project lead for the Bacillus component of the UK’s pathogen modeling program. He moved again to Nabisco Research in New Jersey where he ran the corporate microbiology lab and developed a program of preservation technology development and microbial modeling. After the Kraft Foods acquisition, he moved to Chicago to work on Food Safety and Preservation research, and through modeling and validation studies:
- Optimized Oscar Mayer’s use of lactate and diacetate and their naturally cultured alternatives as Listeria-control agents in Ready to Eat meats
- Specified process conditions central to Oscar Mayer’s commercial launch of High Pressure Pasteurization of naturally cured RTE meats
David had responsibility for the Kraft cultures R&D group, developed a partnership to explore microwave sterilization leading to several patents, and led a program that developed an internal proprietary natural antimicrobial commercialized in several Kraft products. Technologies from his group supported approximately $4 billion in annual sales.
After years as a microbiology "client", he is now back in the "provider" role as Director of Science at Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, Inc., by way of the Covance Food Solutions group based in Madison, WI, which he joined in 2016. In this role, he ensures appropriate method validation, explores new testing technologies, and fields multiple complicated food microbiology questions.
Products that his team has evaluated or developed and launched include:
- The 3M MDS platform in the Madison microbiology laboratory
- Flow cytometry for enumeration of probiotics
- Strain-level confirmation of probiotic identification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
- Next-generation sequencing using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies GridION sequencing platform for microbial identification and microbiome analysis
Below are resources from David:
Learn about the most common food pathogens and their impact in food handling and production. Testing your products can help manage risk of contamination from pathogens. Partner with Eurofins for all of your food safety testing needs.
Whole-Genome Sequencing aids in tracking foodborne illnesses and drug resistance in food pathogens. Read on to learn how WGS ensures food safety and quality.
Testing food and ingredients is a proactive step you can take to analyze and verify the quality and safety of your products. There are many considerations you should know about using test kits and instruments in your manufacturing plant. This article provides advice and considerations when buying in-house test kits and instruments.
In this blog article Jeff Stassi discusses the importance of designing a meaningful, comprehensive testing program for dietary supplements.
Eurofins has completed the development and validation of a ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method for low-level quantification in CBD isolate matrices.
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), in particular, is a group of E. coli strains most associated with foodborne outbreaks. As food producers, you have the responsibility to ensure your consumers don't become a statistic. Read on to learn more about STEC and other food pathogens and how to eliminate them from your products.
The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), requires domestic and foreign food facilities registered with section 415 of the Food, Drug, & Cosmetic (FD&C) Act to enact risk-based preventive controls. This document provides information on the required analysis of hazards and risk-based preventive controls to minimize or prevent identified hazards.
The dietary supplement industry has become an increasingly regulated industry since the introduction of the dietary supplement GMPs in 2007. There is still to this day an industry confusion as to the requirements needed to comply with the dietary supplement GMP requirement to use a scientifically valid method. So does this mean the method must be validated?
As NIR instrumentation ages or manufacturers discontinue the support for older platforms, it is necessary to look for a replacement. With so many brands and models in the market and manufacturers’ claims of impressive capabilities, how does one narrow down the selection and find the correct choice?
In this article read about how Eurofins QTA has developed a new method using NIR to test the THC levels of hemp and cannabis that are being utilized by state police to rapidly determine the THC levels of confiscated cannabis.
