Features Business Food Safety
Technology to improve food safety

November 22, 2010,
Guelph, Ont – A new pilot plant research facility that opened recently at
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Guelph Food Research Centre (GFRC) will help
Canadian farmers and consumers benefit from advances in food safety
technologies.

November 22, 2010,
Guelph, Ont – A new pilot plant research facility that opened recently at
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Guelph Food Research Centre (GFRC) will help
Canadian farmers and consumers benefit from advances in food safety
technologies.

The upgrades to the
facility were funded by the $1.15 million investment under the Modernizing
Federal Laboratories Initiative of the Government of Canada’s Economic Action
Plan.

The pilot plant facility
is unique in Canada for being able to work with pathogens such as Escherichia
coli, Listeria and Salmonella to validate emerging food safety technologies in
the country. Some of the emerging food safety technologies to be investigated
in the new laboratory involve treatment of pathogens with ultra high pressure,
ultra-violet light, microwaves, ultrasounds and ozone. Within the facility,
three special containment units, called BioBubbles, will contain any
contaminated materials produced while testing processes and prevent release of
pathogens in the environment. As well, a microbiology lab and a cold storage
unit are dedicated to the lab’s activities.

The facility will be
used by scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the
University of Guelph and the food industry.