Research and Expertise on Display at IAFP 2024 in Long Beach
Eurofins presence was well established at this year’s annual meeting of the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) in Long Beach, CA. The venue, located a mere 25 miles from Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories in neighboring Tustin, CA, drew a mix of local Eurofins staff and seasoned R&D, sales, and business leaders from around the United States.
Eurofins US Food, Feed, and Supplement Testing sponsored a booth in the exhibition hall, but the focus of the event was Eurofins science and its scientists who once again demonstrated their technical dominance of the food industry through a variety of poster presentations and technical symposia, as well as leadership of professional development groups.
In case you missed it or would like to revisit, here are the Eurofins event highlights.
High Demand for Quality Data Drives Produce Safety
This year marked the first for Eurofins’ Rafael Davila as vice chair of the Pre-Harvest Food Safety Professional Development Group (PDG) within IAFP. The group saw greater attendance this year, hosting featured presenters Dr. Gustavo Reyes of Western Growers Science and Javier Atencia of Pathotrak.
The discussion became “hands-on” at times around the importance of sampling technique and volume in maximizing the value of a pre-harvest lettuce testing program, punctuated by Rafael shredding a head of romaine lettuce with his bare hands to illustrate harvest methods and sample collection. View the recent Primer on Leafy Green Preharvest Pathogen Testing from Western Growers Science to learn more about the basic considerations for grower testing.
Applied Laboratory Methods Continues to See High Level of General Interest
Dr. David Legan and collaborators within the Validation and Verification Interest Group of IAFP’s Applied Laboratory Methods PDG once again were awarded for the Food Protection Trends (FPT) Most Viewed General Interest Article with their publication titled Evaluating Microbiological Method Equivalence – A Decision Guide. This is the second year in a row, and the third in total, that this award has been won by a Eurofins-led group out of the four years that it’s been in existence. David and his team hope to continue their success with their newest publication, Discrepancies in the Microbiological Analysis of Foods: Causes and Resolutions, featured in the July/August edition of FPT.
The Applied Laboratory Methods PDG is currently chaired by Dr. Dan DeMarco of Eurofins. Under the leadership of Dr. Demarco, the PDG received reports on its supported session proposals for IAFP 2024 and began to develop ideas for sessions at IAFP 2025. It also solicited thoughts from members on professional development content desired throughout the year and heard from a representative of AOAC on a new project to revise “Appendix J”, the U.S. standard for microbiological method validation.
Definition of Acidified Foods Draws an Expert Debate
Industry professionals, including Eurofins’ Martha Kimber, met to discuss the industry challenges stemming from the FDA regulations governing acidified foods. The discussion targeted the definition of acidified foods that was established by the FDA in 21 CFR 114.
As written, this has raised many questions as to what constitutes an “acidified food”. The regulation also required industry to expand the strict validation and verification procedures for food products that may now fall within this definition. The group’s conversation highlighted directions and clarifications that could be made to the FDA’s guidance, while outlining processes and procedures such as challenge testing that the industry should follow to meet the regulation as it stands today.
Whole Genome Sequencing Raises Opportunity Amidst Doubt
General industry agreement is that whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides a greater depth and understanding to food outbreak investigation and preventative strategies of a comprehensive food safety program. As uses for WGS continue to develop, concerns of regulation and cost delay the widespread adoption of the technology. 
As a member of a diverse and high-profile panel of industry, regulatory, and legal experts, Eurofins’ Dr. Doug Marshall provided options and considerations for WGS testing within the current legal landscape, stressing that as demand and testing volumes increase, cost of testing will decrease to lower one of the primary hurdles to acceptance.
Probiotic Methods Continue to Evolve
Laboratory and Regulatory Challenges of Probiotics in Food Products were discussed in a roundtable co-convened by Dr. David Legan and including Dr. Jean Schoeni of Eurofins among the industry expert panel. Probiotics in foods are a rapidly growing consumer interest and the latest technologies for assuring product safety and quality were discussed. These include flow cytometry and digital PCR (dPCR) for probiotic enumeration and whole genome sequencing for strain and product characterization. Progress at FDA on probiotic label claims and at USP on analytical method lifecycle management are influencing development and application of these newer methods. The discussion also moved into the application of “probiotics” to help maintain a safe food plant environment by competitive exclusion of pathogens. In these applications, “protective cultures” would be a more accurate description. Expect more presentations and discussion on these rapidly growing areas at future meetings.
Integral Contributions to Industry and the Greater Scientific Community
The Eurofins R&D and Advanced Food Microbiology team’s year of research culminated in five posters spread throughout the poster sessions in this year’s IAFP program. The teams showed how Eurofins technologies and testing approaches can solve industry challenges in produce, beverage, and issues facing all areas of food processing.
Improving Confirmation for Better Testing Results
In their poster, Understanding Non-Confirmable Presumptives in Environmental Listeria Testing, Miller et al. provide a greater context for how to overcome non-confirming presumptive (NCP) pathogen results through a quantified evaluation of molecular methods as an alternative to cultural methods for confirmation.
As a separate evaluation, DeMarco et al. demonstrate how Rheonix technology can be used to reduce non-confirming presumptive rates, while presenting another unique molecular alternative to cultural confirmation. The poster, An Automated Highly Multiplexed PCR Method for Listeria Fingerprinting Also Provides Improved Confirmation Rates with Presumptive Environmental Sample Enrichments, provides an innovative approach to the issue. Unfortunately, the Rheonix technology will shortly be unavailable, and Eurofins is exploring alternative approaches in its place.
Expert Challenge Testing
Abd et al. shared their research and conclusions evaluating the microbiological safety of immersion method concentrated coffee and single strength cold brew coffee processed by UHT, demonstrating for these products that temperature controls for safety (TCS) are not required during retail. The details of these findings can be seen in their poster, Microbial Safety of Cold Brewed Black Coffee during Retail.
Facilitating Rapid Produce Testing Through Innovation and Technology
In two separate research studies, Miller et al. paired BACGene test assays with the Pathotrak enrichment concentration system in the efforts towards enhancing produce risk identification and testing.
In the poster, Development of a Rapid Enteric Pathogen Indicator for Leafy Greens, Miller et al. evaluate the feasibility of a rapid protocol of BACGene EPRI assay with Pathotrak to assess the potential presence of enteric pathogens in fresh produce matrices, illustrating how the rapid detection of pathogen indicators can help alert growers/processors of potential risk.
The group then went on to further document how BACGene L. monocytogenes and Listeria spp. can be used with Pathotrak to reduce enrichment times of leafy greens to 12 hours of incubation in the poster titled, A Listeria Test Method Requiring Only a 12-Hour Enrichment in Leafy Green Matrices.
