FDA to Expand Genome Sequencing Program of Foodborne Pathogens

The US Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will be expanding its genome sequencing of foodborne pathogens to more than 100,000 pathogens and has joined hands with testing technology company Agilent and University of California Davis. The FDA had initially started the project with its researchers who managed to complete the genome sequencing of hundreds of such pathogens over the last three years.

The health regulator said that the expanded project, titled 100k Genome Project, will provide a reliable database for health officials to identify the source of any future outbreaks sooner than currently possible.

“This important project will harness the cutting-edge technology of genome sequencing to advance our understanding of and response to foodborne outbreaks”, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg said, adding that the database will also be made available for the public.

Source-Medindia