The utility and application of Whole Genome Sequencing have made significant progress for its acceptance and use in different aspects of food safety programs. As the technology advances and becomes a more practical, less expensive means to ensure the global food supply is less likely to harbor pathogenic microbes, there remain several issues that the food safety community should address. To avoid the debate as to whether food contains a live or dead (or infectious or non-infectious) non-culturable microbe, one topic that has surfaced over the past years that requires further discussion is what data determines the link between different isolates, i.e., how many SNPs determine a new/different species of the same strain. As with PFGE there were certain ‘rules’ that were followed that allowed the determination of isolates were clones or not, WGS may need a similar set of ground rules. The objective of this symposium/roundtable is to bring the issue forward and initiate the appropriate discussions to move forward, perhaps with the establishment of working group to explore possible guidelines that in the near future be brought to the membership of the ALM and AMA PDGs. This critical point of WGS analysis has reverberation throughout the entire spectrum of users of this technology and its effect on food safety.

Presentations