WASHINGTON (July 12, 2012)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to create a database of 100,000 food-borne germs to speed up the government's response to outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli and other food-related diseases.
The five-year effort involves sequencing the genetic code of the most common food-borne germs.
The information may allow scientists to create tests that can identify food-borne germs in a matter of days, rather than weeks, the FDA said.
Every year about 48 million people in the U.S. get sick from food-borne bacteria.
The agency will partner with scientists at the University of California, Davis, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agilent Technologies Inc., a company, which specializes in testing equipment.
The FDA plans to make the completed database available to the public.
