Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, E. Coli and Listeria pose significant risks to human health. The world health organization estimates that 2.2 Million deaths / year are directly caused by foodborne and waterborne bacterial diseases worldwide. In the UK alone, 1 Million people suffer from foodborne-induced illnesses each year, costing the economy more than £2 Billion. Accordingly, detection of pathogens in food is essential to ensure that the food we eat is safe.

Our initiative established a collaborative research program between Prof. Goldberg Oppenheimer (University of Birmingham) and Prof. Jelinek (BGU) aiming to develop multimodal platforms for pathogen sensing in food.

Our objectives are to lay the groundwork for technological development, identify academic and industrial stakeholders who help determine the technology specifications, sponsor mutual visits of students and researchers and public outreach for generating interest and funding for technology and product development.