First international workshop on the IFR Gel Cassette system
June 2009
The First International Workshop on the IFR Gel Cassette was held in Paris recently. The workshop attracted participants from seven countries, including Australia, and was sponsored by the British Council, the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) STLO, and the IFR’s Food and Health Network (FHN).
The IFR Gel Cassette system was designed to allow scientists to study the growth of bacteria whilst immobilised, as they are in food structures, rather than growing in liquid culture. The meeting was introduced by Professor Tim Brocklehurst and heard from the different institutions around the world that are using the system in their research.
Research projects were both fascinating and diverse. INRA Science et Technologie du Lait et de l'Oeuf (STLO) are studying spatial distribution of organisms within cheese, IFR are looking at Salmonella contamination of the pork food chain and the antimicrobial effectiveness of essential oils is being researched at the Agricultural University of Athens. In addition, there were two very interesting talks including an interactive demonstration about how the system is helping to validate a number of predictive models, by KU Leuven and IFR.
The workshop provoked a large amount of discussion over the 2 days and saw the further establishment as well as the start of new collaborations. Overall the workshop was extremely successful and will hopefully result in future projects and closer working relationships within the community of Gel Cassette users as well as the introduction of the Gel Cassette to other institutions.
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