November 18, 2014

food safety: Laboratory of the Government Chemist conference

Food fraud was in the spotlight last year during the horsemeat scandal, and food safety has been brought to the fore again recently following the detection of campylobacter in some supermarket chickens. The Laboratory of the Government Chemist, a company that carries out food testing and analysis, will be having their annual conference later in November.

Ahead of this conference a number of the speakers came to the SMC to talk to journalists about various aspects of food safety, food testing, food fraud, supplements and food authenticity, including:

• What has been learned about the integrity of food supply networks since the horsemeat scandal?
• How do we know where our food has come from?
• How are allergens tested for and detected in food?
• What happens when two labs disagree on test results on the contents of food?
• Chromium in food and chromium supplements – is it always good for us?
• How are isotope ratio measurements used to determine food authenticity and origin?
• What is campylobacter and how and why does infection occur?

Speakers:

Mr Michael Walker, Consultant Referee Analyst, Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC)

Prof Chris Elliott, Chair of Food Safety, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)

Dr Heidi Goenaga-Infante, Principal Scientist, Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC)

Dr Phil Dunn, Researcher, Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC)

Dr Frieda Jorgensen, Microbiology Services, Food Water and Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health England (PHE)