Category Archives: Food Microbiology

Could the gut microbiome influence livestock growth?

Posted on October 24, 2018 by

Dr Stafford Vigors is a researcher at Teagasc, a Food Research Centre in Ashtown, Dublin. At the 2018 Microbes and Mucosal Surfaces Focused Meeting, Stafford presented his research ‘Analysis of the intestinal microbiome of pigs divergent in feed efficiency.’ Here, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Food Microbiology, Microbiome | Leave a comment

Scratching the surface: how microbes adhere to worktops

Posted on June 5, 2017 by

Have you ever noticed when cleaning a sink or a saucepan that certain spots get tougher to clean over time, and the harder you scrub them, the worse it gets? This sometimes happens when we clean things with abrasive products … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Food Microbiology, Technology | Tagged | 13 Comments

You can’t stop an outbreak without breaking a few eggs

Posted on February 15, 2017 by

Last year, a paper from Microbial Genomics described how scientists used molecular detective work to get to the bottom of an outbreak across Europe. In June 2014, there was an outbreak of Salmonella at a hospital in Birmingham. Thirty-two people were affected, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Food Microbiology, Microbial Evolution and Diversity | Tagged | 1 Comment

Podcast: Brewing Better Beer

Posted on December 16, 2016 by

  What gives beer its taste? Why do some ales taste of berries, bananas or chocolate? A big part of the answer is the type of yeast used to ferment it. There are hundreds of different strains that brewers can use … Continue reading →

Posted in Food Microbiology, Mycology | 1 Comment

Microbial diversity and ‘unique’ cheeses

Posted on March 22, 2016 by

Traditional cheese-making with raw milk utilises bacteria from the local environment. Today at the Annual Conference, Bronwen Percival, Technical Manager at London-based Neal’s Yard Dairy, will explain how this traditional way of producing cheese is making a comeback, but how … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk: December 2015

Posted on December 18, 2015 by

In a festive edition of our podcast, we hear from Dr Arnoud van Vliet from the Institute of Food Research. Arnoud tells us about his group’s research into foodborne pathogens like Campylobacter, and gives us his top tips for avoiding … Continue reading →

Posted in Food Microbiology, Podcast | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Profile: Dr Marie Anne Chattaway

Posted on July 30, 2015 by

Society member Dr Marie Anne Chattaway works as a Clinical Scientific Lead for Public Health England (PHE), based in London, UK. We spoke to Marie about her career, her work for PHE and how working abroad can expand your scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, Food Microbiology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What gives wine its taste? (We heard it’s on the grapevine…)

Posted on March 3, 2015 by

Wine connoisseurs, or oenophiles, possess a seemingly endless vocabulary for describing their tipples of choice. To the uninitiated, it may sound like they are describing an entire gourmet meal, or even a good friend, but this is not just make-believe: … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental Microbiology, Food Microbiology | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Antibiotic resistance transfer: where’s the culprit?

Posted on February 4, 2015 by

Escherichia coli is a species of bacteria that forms an essential part of the gut microbiome of many warm-blooded animals, including humans. Most strains are completely harmless to us, but some cause diseases including food poisoning and urinary tract infections. … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Food Microbiology | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Should we curb our appetite for beef?

Posted on January 8, 2015 by

In 2012, Nobel Prize winner Harald zur Hausen noted the volume of research suggesting a causal link between beef consumption and colorectal cancer. This disease predominantly occurs in high-income countries where Western-style diets incorporate large amounts of red meat. Meanwhile, … Continue reading →

Posted in Epidemiology, Food Microbiology, Virology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment