J. David Legan

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:

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Identifying Foreign Materials in Raw Materials & Finished Products

Whether it’s a finished food item or a component of pharmaceuticals, identifying suspect batches of any product is an important part of the quality control process. In this webinar, Michael Dziewatkoski of Eurofins gives you the inside look into analysis of foreign materials along with actual case studies.

Keywords: Webinar Special Investigations Food Beverage Ingredients Foreign Materials

Zone One Testing: Do You Dare?

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.

Keywords: Webinar Environmental Microbiology Food Supplements Dmarshall