U.S To Build Database Of 100,000 Food Pathogen Genomes

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/u-s-to-map-100-000-bacteria-genomes-to-solve-food-illness.html

U.S. scientists plan to map the genetic codes of 100,000 foodborne pathogens, including salmonella, listeria and E. coli, in a five-year effort to find more rapid resolutions to outbreaks that sicken consumers.

The sequences will be put in a public database and serve as the nation’s road map for creating tests that identify harmful microorganisms and provide clues to their origins, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement yesterday. The FDA is working with Agilent Technologies Inc. (A), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of California, Davis.

About 48 million people, or one in six Americans, get sick from food each year, and 3,000 die, according to the Atlanta- based CDC. The sequencing, dubbed the 100K Genome Project, will help researchers develop tests that identify the bacteria in a sample in days or hours compared with the week or so it takes now from diagnosis to genetic analysis, the FDA said.

“This is a very positive thing,” said Mansour Samadpour, chief executive officer of IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group, a Lake Forest Park, Washington-based provider of analytic services for meat and produce companies. “It’s going to increase our understanding and be good for researchers.”

[trotsky]

1. That there are 100,000 food pathogens scares the shit out of me.

No pun intended.

Great project though.

[xchrom]

2. right? nt