Report on UK publicly-funded research relating to salmonella: Update December 2005
Thursday 22 December 2005
An updated (December 2005) report in a series providing an overview of publicly funded research relating to microbiological safety of food has been produced by the Microbiological Safety of Food Funders group (MSFFG).
The new report was published in December 2005 and reviews publiclyfunded research related to salmonella. The report updates the previous report published in April 2002 and covers research funded by the members of the MSFFG, a total of 161 projects, over the period 1999 to December 2004.
During recent years there has been a major research effort in the UK, and internationally, relating to foodborne salmonella and food poisoning, which is reflected in this report. This research has led to an increased understanding of the causes and control of salmonella infections in humans, which in turn has been applied to the food industry and consumer practice.
The overall effect has been a decrease in the number of cases of salmonella food poisoning in humans in the past few years.
The MSFFG is a cross-representational body involving bodies that fund microbiological research in the area of food safety. Membership includes representatives from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSA Scotland), Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Department of Health (DH), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Food Safety Promotion Board of Ireland (FSPB), Health Protection Agency (HPA), Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC), Medical Research Council (MRC), the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and the Scottish Executive Department of Health (SEDH). 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 research and development effort, identifying gaps and overlaps, and providing reports as appropriate.'
