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:
Some minerals are found to interfere with vitamin K2 shelf-life stability in nutraceuticals. Watch our video case study to learn how Eurofins Craft Technologies assists clients experiencing formulation challenges.
Testing or verifying specifications of your ingredients and products is not always straightforward. Food and feed matrices have complex chemistry that methods need to take into account. This case study shows how our team of scientists helped a company experiencing issues with the Total Mixed Ration cattle feed.
Testing or enumeration Bacillus coagulans in gummies is not as straight forward as it seems. Sometimes product matrices are challenging and require a new custom method. Learn how our testing experts know exactly how to problem solve testing in tough matrices like gummy candies.
If you have been using an established probtioic enumeration method with good results, introducing new probiotic strains into your formulas may mean changes need to be made. Read this case study to learn how Eurofins finds a solution to challenging product with multiple strains from multiple manufacturers.
Is your probiotic supplement formulated with both probiotic bacteria and active compounds? If so, getting accurate enumeration of probiotic strains can be a challenge. Learn how our experts in probiotic testing are skilled in finding solutions to tough probiotic formulations in this case study.
TMR is a high-moisture, non-homogenous sample matrix. This mixture of feed ingredients is challenging to mill and blend for good lab testing. Watch our case study video to learn more.
Turmeric has faced authenticity issues as instances of economic-adulterations to reduce the cost. We used carbon-14 and HPLC analyses as complementary methods to verify “all-natural” label claims of commercial dietary supplements containing turmeric ingredients.
Eurofins is pushing the boundaries of NIR technology by pushing infrared into new material matrices and quantitative analysis. A Eurofins QTA customer is demonstrating these new applications on limestone mines by determining how much calcium carbonate and magnesium are coming out of the mines.
This publication will cover two additional important points: 1.) How to choose the right calibration set for your application 2.) What criteria you must have for optimal calibration samples
This case study makes the financial case for why your company should calibrate its IR instrument more frequently.
