With the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) Food Microbiology Conference coming up on 5-6 March 2025, AIFST scientific advisor, Deon Mahoney, takes a look at the importance of food microbiology across the entire food system, including current industry challenges and developments.
Source: AIFST
Microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts, and moulds play a highly significant role in both the production of a wide array of fermented foods and the spoilage of food. While various strains of bacteria, protozoa, and viruses contribute to the burden of illness by causing food poisoning. The study of these microorganisms informs our understanding of how they grow and survive, and how we can manipulate environmental conditions to control them. While monitoring food for microbial contamination is crucial for assuring food safety and quality.
Much is still unknown about the microbiological world. Despite spectacular advances in the culture and identification of microorganisms, the microbes causing over half of the outbreaks of foodborne illness are unknown. Furthermore, the modern food microbiology lab is a place of great paradoxes – PCR kits, nucleic acid sequencing, and metagenomics share laboratory space with petri dishes, pipettes, and Gram stain reagents that were developed in the 19th Century.
Aside from the difficulty of determining the cause of outbreaks, microbes also present a number of challenges for the food industry. Microbes possessing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) result in the failure of an antimicrobial to effectively treat or prevent an infection that it was previously able to. Antibiotic resistance develops naturally in bacteria; however it can be worsened when human and animal health professionals over prescribe antibiotics, or when people don’t take antibiotics as directed. Organisms possessing AMR can enter the food supply and have the potential to infect consumers. A recent article in The Lancet forecast that globally, up to 10 million people could die annually from AMR by 2050.
Other pathogenic microorganisms have developed adaptive mechanisms to survive in harsh environments or to evade host defence systems, or develop enhanced virulence, posing evolving risks to public health. While an increasing number of opportunistic microorganisms present a potential risk to vulnerable consumers. Microbes were here first and ultimately cannot be conquered.
However we have been able to harness many of the good bugs – fermented foods such as cheese, yoghurt, kimchi, wine, soy sauce, and salami are evidence of how humans have utilised these microbiological powerhouses to generate traditional foods. A renaissance in the use of microbes now sees food processors using microbes in precision fermentation (PF) to create an array of characterised functional ingredients, health-promoting compounds, and novel proteins. PF has the potential to enhance food production processes, as well as increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Microbes can also be harnessed to produce single-cell protein (SCP). Using a wide range of growth substrates, microbes can be harvested as a dried or processed biomass, and used as a supplement, ingredient, or a main food source. SCP has the potential to become a sustainable component of our diet.
There is also ongoing research to address the potential for probiotic bacteria in the human gut microbiome to inhibit the growth of pathogens and produce antimicrobial compounds. Although the health benefit and the selection of safe strains are controversial matters.
While food microbiology is a relatively new field of study, advances have the potential to enhance public health, reduce food waste, and create new and exciting foods and ingredients. Some of these developments will be discussed at the upcoming Conference under the theme BUGS IN THE BALANCE: A world of diversity. The program will focus on the diversity and dynamics of microorganisms, covering topics as diverse as precision fermentation, lessons from outbreaks of foodborne illness, viruses in food, and water microbiology and how it impacts the food chain. There is also a session for next gen researchers, where students have the opportunity to highlight their research.
The conference also provides an opportunity to take a look at the history of the Green book – Foodborne Microorganisms of Public Health Significance and why is it still relevant today. The book is a comprehensive compilation of information covering the properties, significance, and enumeration of microorganisms of public health significance. It was first published in 1974 and represents the go to text for the food microbiologist. Edition 7 of the book will be available later in 2025.
The AIFST Food Microbiology Conference will be of interest and relevance to personnel across the entire food industry, as well as food regulators, academics, researchers, and government officials.
For 2025 Food Microbiology Conference details visit - https://www.aifst.asn.au/AIFST-2025-Food-Micro-Conference.
