Applications of Metagenomics to Product and Process Design

Recent technology advances in the fields of culture-independent genomics and ‘Big Data’ computation are providing opportunities for unprecedented insight into food microbial ecology and physiology. Improvements in analytics and informatics  (‘Omics technologies’) have got faster, cheaper, and more accurate, and are now delivering more extensive and detailed data with each passing year. However, as these technologies have progressed, the scientific knowledge and understanding to interpret and manipulate the information for applications of risk analysis and product design has largely been attempting ‘catch up’, particularly when compared to some other environmental microbiology or even other food disciplines (e.g., fermentation).

The use of community profiling and microbiomics using culture-independent methods, such as metagenomics, are now beginning to be published, and are demonstrating potential benefits for improved product or process design. Most are focused on food fermentation and spoilage studies, but also reveal opportunities for their use in risk analysis applications. The ability to better identify and quantify the connections between members of microbial communities and environmental factors has the potential for a profound impact upon the future way food companies conduct a large number of activities; for example, raw material sourcing and specifications setting, plant hygiene management, adulterant risk assessment, manufacturing process design, and root-cause analysis, etc.       

A particular food industry perspective will be presented as an overview of some of the current and possible future applications of metagenomics technologies as applied to safer and better food design.