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:
Salmonella depends on an effective food safety program supported by robust Salmonella detection methods. Our objective is to explore recovery of Salmonella from a background of probiotic cultures and demonstrate and validate as effective, sensitive method for detecting Salmonella in probiotic cultures to protect public health.
The success of such programs hinges not only on consistent implementation and testing, but also on the effective swabbing of your plant. Below are the top 5 mistakes our experts see plants make when sampling and submitting swabs and sponges for testing.
This series is focused on getting new pet food, pet treat, and pet supplement businesses headed down the right path.
Although many genera of bacteria produce lactic acid as a primary or secondary end-product of fermentation, the term Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) is conventionally reserved for genera in the order Lactobacillales. LAB have many applications in food production and spoilage, all of which apply when considering when and how to test for lactic acid bacteria in food.
Microbiome analysis is a method that has revolutionized the analysis of microbial communities. This webinar is an interview with experts in the field who present and discuss industry and laboratory perspectives on using microbiomes as applied to probiotic products and clinical trial samples.
Watch this webinar to learn how quality and maintenance can work together, and gain insight to demonstrate ROI to your senior management for new equipment or upgrades within your plant.
In this webinar, Doug Marshall, Chief Science Officer at Eurofins Microbiology discusses an approach to zone 1 testing that recommends non-direct-contact surfaces simultaneously for pathogens and indicators, then building a correlation between quantitative indicator count and Salmonella or Listeria prevalence. Dr. Marshall will share insights on how companies are employing this approach, including exploration of the various philosophical and scientific rationales for zone 1 pathogen testing.
Eurofins Microbiology works closely with members of the pork industry to ensure safe food production from farm to fork. Download our guide for Pork Carcass Sampling.
Step inside Eurofins Food Microbiology laboratory for a tour! Learn more about the innovations in service and technology that our labs are using to make testing easier for our customers.
In this digital conference Eurofins experts, industry partners and food safety thought leaders guide attendees through a discussion of the latest solutions and controls for persistent pet food manufacturing issues.
