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:
Do your products need a nutritional label? Do you ever find yourself facing confusion around nutritional labeling requirements?
Let us help with those questions! Listen to our informational webinar presented by Mollie Hammerschmidt, Analytical Services Manager, Eurofins Nutrition Analysis Center. She answers the most common questions and pain points we receive, from customers just like you, with nutrition labeling requests.
Have a product needing a Facts Panel and not sure which one to use? This article explains the differences between food and dietary supplement labeling and what food and supplement manufacturers must include on their labels.
Oil and water don't mix, but they can be made into an emulsion. In this blog read about how emulsions in food products can pose issues for traditional analytical methods and how Eurofins rises to the challenge with specific methodology for these food products.
In this blog post Eurofins Analytical Services Manager Jeff Stassi explains why it is so important to set specifications for dietary supplements.
In this blog post Dan Berg, Food Scientist, Analytical Services Manager for Eurofins Food Integrity & Innovation talks through the top 10 things you should know about the new nutritional facts panel rules.
This document describes the nutrition and supplement facts labels changes.
In this three-part series Dan Berg, Food Scientist, Analytical Services Manager at Eurofins talks through some of the more complicated issues and some related manners to consider for manufacturers in their efforts to meet the current regulations for Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts panels. In this first part of the 3 part series, he discusses RACCs (Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed), Dietary Fiber, and Added Sugars.
In this three-part series Dan Berg, Food Scientist, Analytical Services Manager at Eurofins talks through some of the more complicated issues and some related manners to consider for manufacturers in their efforts to meet the current regulations for Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts panels. In this second part of the three part series, he discusses vitamins (A, D, E, and Folic Acid/Folates).
In this three-part series Dan Berg, Food Scientist, Analytical Services Manager at Eurofins talks through some of the more complicated issues and some related manners to consider for manufacturers in their efforts to meet the current regulations for Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts panels. In this the final part of the three part series, he discusses other related rules.
