Guest Editors
Abhinav Mishra
University of Georgia
Abhinav Mishra is an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia’s Department of Food Science and Technology. He focuses on developing predictive models to understand the growth and survival patterns of foodborne pathogens under various conditions. He has developed models predicting the survival and growth of foodborne pathogens such as Clostridium botulinum, Salmonella and E. coli.
Dumitru Macarisin
Food and Drug Administration, USA
Dumitru Macarisin is a Senior Research Microbiologist in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at College Park in Maryland, U.S. Dr. Macarisin is FDA subject matter expert for Listeria monocytogenes in and he also leads the Agency’s development and implementation of research projects related to microbial safety of fresh produce. Dr. Macarisin earned his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry in 2003 and pursued further postdoctoral research in the Agricultural Research Organization -Volcani Center, Israel followed by an 8-year research tenure with the Agricultural Research Service-United States Department of Agriculture. He conducted extensive research in postharvest pathology and biocontrol, plant stress response, produce safety, and microbiology. Dr. Macarisin came to the FDA in 2013 and his primary research interests are to identify the mechanisms of fresh produce contamination and environmental reservoirs of foodborne pathogens and develop mitigation strategies to improve good agricultural practices in the prevention of produce recalls and foodborne outbreaks. Dr. Macarisin represents the FDA nationally and internationally on critical food safety issues. He has been furnishing recommendations on preventive controls, environmental monitoring, and the improvements of quality controls to other governmental agencies and food industries.
Dr. Govindaraj Dev Kumar
University of Georgia
Govindaraj Dev Kumar is a food safety microbiologist at the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety. His research focuses on understanding the impact of stress adaptations in foodborne bacterial pathogens on their ability to persist in their environment and contaminate food. His research interests include biofilm formation, filament formation, and transition in non-culturable states by stressed microorganisms.
Collection Overview
The burden of foodborne illnesses negatively impacts public health, consumer confidence, and the profitability of food production. The contamination of foods by foodborne pathogens could occur during growing, rearing, harvesting, or processing. The early detection of these contaminants could reduce the risk of illnesses and food wastage due to product recalls. The type and physiological state of foodborne pathogens can be diverse across food production environments and food matrices and can influence the recovery, detection, and quantification of these microorganisms. Methods to isolate, detect and enumerate foodborne pathogens involve several stages such as sample collection, enrichment, isolation, characterization, and cataloging genetic sequences into databases. Improvements in each of these stages could contribute towards accurate and accelerated detection of foodborne pathogens. Further, the rapid detection and quantification of foodborne pathogens from finished products are vital for quality control and a smooth supply chain. The collection consists of novel methods that can improve and expedite the detection of foodborne pathogens from foods and food-related environments.
