Report on UK publicly-funded research relating to Campylobacter

Tuesday 22 June 2004

An updated (May 2004) report in a series providing an overview of publicly funded research relating to the microbiological safety of food has been produced by the Microbiological Safety of Food Funders Group (MSFFG).

The MSFFG is a cross-representational body involving public bodies who fund microbiological research in the areas of food safety. Membership includes officials from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Department for the Environment, Food and Rural affairs (DEFRA), Department of Health (DH), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and representatives from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Group's terms of reference are:

'To assist the co-ordination of publicly funded research and development on the microbiological safety of the food chain with a view to informing the R&D effort, identifying gaps and overlaps, and providing reports as appropriate.'

The report is a review of research relating to Campylobacter and updates the previous report published in September 2001. The report contains information about publicly funded Campylobacter research from June 1999 to December 2003, a total of 89 projects under the following headings:

• Detection, differentiation and diagnosis
• Microbial physiology and genetics
• Pathogenesis
• Epidemiology
• Surveillance
• Risk analysis
• Reduction and elimination