Over the past few years, advanced molecular technology is creating a sea of change in the operations of public health surveillance for foodborne illness and the tracking of foodborne contamination.  This symposium will be a summit of industry food safety professionals and representatives from at least two of the Federal agencies now using next generation sequencing for surveillance of foodborne illnesses and investigation of food contamination events from a regulatory perspective.  The focus of the presentations will be providing an overview of how next generation sequencing is changing the PulseNet model for public health surveillance and what those changes will mean to the food industry.  Attendees will learn:

-How the U.S. CDC PulseNet model is changing to include whole genome sequencing (WGS) as a replacement for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) for the surveillance of foodborne pathogens

-Why the U.S. FDA GenomeTRAKR program has implemented WGS for the tracking of foodborne contamination in foods and food environments and how those changes have impacted regulatory operations

-How some parts of the food industry are using WGS to track foodborne contaminants through their supply chain

-What concerns industry has about the use of the new technology and regulatory implications

Presentations