Metagenomics will likely change the way we do business in food safety microbiology in just a few years. This emerging technology has the potential for revolutionizing our ability to understand and monitor almost every micro-environment which contributes to food safety…such as those of food plants and animals, processing facilities, finished products, and even food consumers.   Metagenomics should make possible a wide range of applications for identifying foods and food ingredients, and understanding microbial community dynamics that lead to or prevent disease.  However, the quantity and complexity of data needed for many metagenomic analyses currently make it impractical for routine use. What will it take for metagenomics to be accessible as a routine diagnostic tool for food safety testing?  This session will describe the current bottlenecks and breakthroughs needed, and will review the state-of-the-art and future prospects for such diverse applications as determining the diets of ancient peoples and modern outbreak victims, determining the composition of foods, examination of microbial communities that make foods more-or-less susceptible to pathogen contamination, and in situ characterization of known, unknown, and un-culturable pathogens.  Metagenomics is coming, and it may be sooner than you think.

Presentations