"Tracking Food Poisoning Bacteria"... Ulsan Institute of Health and Environment Launches Database Construction Project

National-Level Tracking and Management of Foodborne Pathogens, Cause Identification

31 Foodborne Pathogen Isolations from 260 Cases in Q1 This Year

The Ulsan Health and Environment Research Institute is conducting the ‘Food Poisoning Bacteria Tracking Management Project’ in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to prevent and manage food poisoning.

This project aims to detect food poisoning bacteria throughout the entire process of food production and consumption, compare and analyze characteristic information, and database this information to be used for preventing food poisoning and quickly and accurately identifying causes in the event of an incident.

The investigation targets include raw food materials such as agricultural, aquatic, and livestock products in distribution and sale, processed foods, and food production environments, examining contamination by 18 types of food poisoning bacteria including Salmonella.

During the first quarter of this year, tracking investigations were conducted on 250 food samples and 10 environmental samples such as river water and river inflow water.

As a result of the investigation, a total of 31 food poisoning bacteria were isolated and their characteristics are being compared and analyzed, including 11 cases of Bacillus cereus, 7 cases of Clostridium perfringens, 4 cases of pathogenic Escherichia coli, 3 cases of Staphylococcus aureus, 3 cases of Listeria monocytogenes, 2 cases of Salmonella, and 1 case of Yersinia enterocolitica.

An official from the institute stated, “Through accumulated scientific analysis techniques, we expect to enable efficient prevention of food poisoning and rapid identification of incident causes simultaneously,” adding, “We plan to continue the project to contribute to the establishment of a national-level food poisoning bacteria database.”

Ulsan Institute of Health and Environment

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