Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2018-2019)

Increasing global population, globalization, and new living standards have considerably changed the foodx000D
market. Food is transported over long distances, stored and processed before being distributed to consumers,x000D
resulting in the emergence of food safety issues. Food diagnostic currently relies on the detection of modelx000D
pathogens and quantification of microbial load. Very few attempts have been made to develop more holisticx000D
diagnostic tools, providing early signal of food susceptibility to pathogens, based on the abiotic and bioticx000D
features of food matrices. In a previous NSERC-Engage grant, our team demonstrated that microbialx000D
assemblages associated with chia seeds are organized and could provide early signal of contamination risk byx000D
allochthonous Enterobacteriaceae. Here we propose a second phase to that previous project to characterize thex000D
microbiome of hemp seeds imported from different countries. Fresh seeds and conditioned seedsx000D
decontaminated using a proprietary process developed by Agri-Neo Inc. will be sampled and analyzed. Using ax000D
combination of co-occurrence network analyses, we seek to identify keystone microbial species that facilitatex000D
or impede occupation of hemp ecological niche by potential foodborne pathogens. The identification ofx000D
antagonist and synergetic species will lead to the development of a genetic barcode indicator to evaluate foodx000D
susceptibility to pathogens. This strategy could revolutionize conditioning food process treatments and qualityx000D
control, while helping to determine the commercial values of imported food destined to public markets, lowerx000D
the loss of contaminated food products and the incidence of recall warnings.