Technical Meeting on the impact of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) on food safety management - within a One Health Framework
and the
9th Meeting on Global Microbial Identifier (GMI) in Rome, Italy, 23-25 May 2016
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Technical Meeting on the impact of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) on food safety management - within a One Health Framework and the GMI 9
is being organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the GMI Steering Committee. The meeting will be held
at the FAO headquarters in Rome on 23-25 May 2016.
Following the successful format of GMI8, GMI9 will replicate the format of the meeting that consists two parts:
- A one-day meeting, organized by FAO and targeting food safety managers and assessors around the world to exchange information on the impact of WGS/NGS on food safety management, for consumer protection, trade facilitation and food security. Specific considerations will be given to the potential benefits and impacts of WGS in developing countries, with burgeoning food safety systems and limited resources.
- The traditional two-day event that includes five GMI working groups, presentations by international experts and interactive discussions. The meeting aims to examine the state-of-the art of next-generation genomics, review GMI objectives and strategy and support international harmonization of the efforts to use WGS data to build and integrate global databases.
Purpose
The first part of the meeting provides a unique opportunity for participants to understand the current applications as well as the impact of WGS on food safety management. The technologies could contribute to the eventual goal in consumer protection, trade facilitation and food security. Learning from the already existing initiatives in food and agriculture sectors, the meeting will discuss the needs, opportunities and challenges.
During the second part of the meeting (GMI9), participants can benefit from the GMI initiative and participate in the process to develop a global system of DNA genome databases for microbial and infectious disease identification and diagnostics. The first part of the meeting will benefit those who are in the regulatory settings (national food safety managers/assessors and government officials) as well as other stakeholders (NGOs, industries, academia, and policy makers) and the second part of the meeting will benefit those who are tackling individual problems at the frontline (clinicians, food microbiologists, veterinarians, etc.). These meetings are primarily for collaboration and integration across various sectors and international borders.
Administrative contact
For logistical questions including venue, getting around, please contact Mr Mehad Omer at WGS@fao.org.
FAO international symposium on the impact of WGS: purpose, outcome and programme
For questions concerning purpose outcome and programme of the first part of the meeting, please contact Dr Masami Takeuchi at Masami.Takeuchi@fao.org.