Food Safety Genomics and Connections to One Health and the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory

Abstract

This article describes the potential for one health surveillance of foodborne pathogens and disease using the revolutionary methodologies of whole genome sequencing. Whole genome sequencing of viral and bacterial pathogens is a natural fit to a one health perspective because these pathogens reside and are shared by humans, animals, and the environment and their genomes are compared easily regardless of where or from what host the pathogen was isolated. A genome provides a huge amount of data that can be analyzed for numerous applications. Sharing data coordinates surveillance efforts across the various disciplines.

Keywords: Contamination; Data sharing; Foodborne pathogen isolates; Genetic diversity; Ontology; Outbreak detection; Whole genome sequencing.