Development of a rapid on-site diagnostic platform for detection of foodborne pathogens in fish and shellfish production

Food-borne illnesses in the aquaculture industry pose grave risks to public health, and as such the seafood producing and processing industries require close monitoring to quickly identify and manage potential outbreaks. There are approximately 2.4 million cases of food poisoning each year, costing £9 billion to the UK economy. Norovirus accounted for 380,000 cases of food poisoning in 2020 alone, and Listeria bacteria are responsible for Listeriosis, a serious and often fatal disease.

Currently, routine sampling and testing, or testing to confirm outbreaks is slow, with days to test results. These delays lead to escalating outbreaks, requiring full shutdowns in production, adversely affecting productivity with high quantities of food waste as potentially safe food is disposed of as a precaution.

QE Diagnostics (QED) are using their expertise in microbiology and diagnostics to tackle this industrial challenge by developing a handheld diagnostic tool for rapid on-site testing by farmers, reducing time to results from days to \>1 hour. This will allow for preventative actions be taken early, containing potential outbreaks, reducing food waste for more sustainable and economic production as well as reducing adverse health risks through the food supply chain to consumers.

In this Innovate UK funded project QED will advance our diagnostic tool capability to be able to detect multiple pathogens. Partnering with seafood producers and processers along with an advisory board of industry experts, will ensure our device is user-friendly for widespread adoption for rapid commercialisation.