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Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence to join ComBase consortium

On the 24th February 2006, the ComBase Executive Committee, comprising representatives from the UK Food Standards Agency, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK and US Department of Agriculture met with partners of the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence in Sydney to discuss Australian involvement as a full member of the ComBase consortium. The current US and UK full members expressed considerable enthusiasm for the proposal which was agreed in principle with details of a Memorandum of Understanding to be developed by correspondence.

The ComBase Initiative (www.combase.cc) is a collaboration between the Food Standards Agency and the Institute of Food Research, UK, the USDA Agricultural Research Service and its Eastern Regional Research Center, USA and the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence which joined the Consortium in February 2006.

Its purpose is to make data and predictive tools on microbial responses to food environments freely available via webbased software. The ComBase Database (accessible via the ComBase Browser) consists of thousands of microbial growth and survival curves that have been collated in research establishments and from publications. They form the basis for numerous microbial models presented in ComBase Predictor, a useful tool for industry, academia and regulatory agencies. They can be used in developing new food technologies while maintaining food safety; in teaching and research; in assessing the microbial risk in foods or setting up new guidelines.