New dissertation within One Health: We congratulate Madeleine Moazzami!
Last changed: 11 December 2023
Madeleine Moazzami successfully defended her thesis in late November. We took the opportunity to ask her some questions.
What is "the big idea" about your research and how does it relate to One Health?
"My project is about bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter that can be found in slaughterhouses, both in the slaughter environment and on the meat. I wanted to find out if the cleaning routines that the slaughterhouses used were sufficient in removing bacteria that can cause meat spoilage and disease in the consumer. This is related to One Health since it links the bacteria that come from production animals at the farm with slaughterhouse surfaces which get contaminated during slaughter and with the risk for consumers being infected with bacteria causing foodborne disease".
What problem does your research help to solve in the short and long term?
"In the short term, this project should help the slaughterhouses but also other food businesses to raise the question on missing guidelines about cleaning and disinfection procedures and to give advise about how to select sampling methods which are used to determine if surfaces have been successfully cleaned. In long term, hopefully, there will be more research on the topic and guidelines to help the food industry".
How can your research contribute to a more sustainable world, what impact at the societal level can the results contribute to?
"If the cleaning and disinfection routines are correct, they should efficiently remove bacteria that can cause foodborne disease and spoilage from surfaces and carcasses. At society level this would lower the amount of food waste as less spoilage bacteria would be present on the meat. At the same time, there would be less people getting ill from eating meat, fewer people would be hospitalized and die from these diseases".
What is your plan for the near future?
"I will continue at SLU teaching food safety and do research with a focus on biofilm-producing bacteria in slaughterhouses".
We wish Madeleine the best of luck in her future career!