Learning objectives
The student will acquire knowledges on traditional and innovative methods applied in official controls for tracing backward from consumer to fork, principal bacterial pathogens found in food of animal origin and associated to foodborne illnesses. Moreover, students will be initialised to use molecular databases available internationally for tracking microbial risks aiming at improving food safety for consumers.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
Taxonomic classification of bacteria: genus, species, subtype
EU regulations related to surveillance of zoonotic bacterial pathogens, information management system and approved methods for official controls (IMSOC) for foodborne outbreaks
Phenotypic methods for bacterial typing: serotyping, biotyping and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation – time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)-based typing
Genotypic methods for bacterial typing: pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE); Multilocus sequence typing (MLST); Multilocus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA), whole genome sequencing related typing (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) calling, core and whole genome MLST (cgMLST, wgMLST)
Genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of antimicrobial resistance
Molecular international databases available on the main foodborne pathogens: example of application for epidemiological studies
Case studies on the application of different genotype techniques for biological risk tracing in the food industry.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Notes of lectures; scientific publications
Teaching methods
Oral lectures, scientific seminaries, laboratory activities
Assessment methods and criteria
This course is part of the integrated subject "Farm Biosecurity and foodborne risk” which also includes "FARM BIOSECURITY AND ZOONOTIC DISEASES PREVENTION". Final grading of the entire integrated course is calculated as an average of the scores obtained in the two courses of " FARM BIOSECURITY AND ZOONOTIC DISEASES PREVENTION " and "Bacterial traceability and food safety". The examination commission includes teachers of both courses.
The oral examination will verify the theoretical and applicative knowledges of the student. Particularly positive will be evaluated the ability to move within the different topics and the achievement of an organic knowledge of the topics presented during the lessons.
Other information
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