The Fresh Produce Safety Centre, an industry-led, not-for-profit company established to enhance fresh produce food safety across Australia and New Zealand, proudly presented the Rapid Diagnostic Methods webinar on Monday 19 July 2021. The FPSC had identified, through its 2025 Innovation Agenda report Rapid Diagnostic Methods for Foodborne Pathogens: Outlook for the Fresh Produce Industry, that the quick, cost-effective, and reliable identification of pathogens on fresh produce is an area ripe for innovation and potentially a game changer for advancing food safety in the fresh produce industry.

The webinar recording is now available here.

We set out to survey research that was being undertaken within this field, identify the most promising rapid technologies, and make recommendations on what next steps are required to get these technologies into the hands of growers and others in the supply chain.

The one-hour live one-hour webinar discusses the key findings of the report, the perspectives of industry experts and what next steps we can take to advance this exciting field. Speakers include:

  • Dr Jo Rush – co-author of the Rapid Diagnostics report
  • Dr Sharon Jones – General Manager Technical, One Harvest Ltd, Australia
  • Dr Craig Billington – Science Leader, Environmental Science & Research, NZ
  • Dr Alex Quinn – co-author of the Rapid Diagnostics report

Read the full report here and summary here.