Ep. 191. Dr. Edward Dudley: Wastewater Monitoring for Foodborne Pathogen Surveillance

Edward G. Dudley, Ph.D. is the Director of the E. coli Reference Center and a Professor of Food Science at the Pennsylvania State University. He has a broad background in molecular biology, physiology, and foodborne bacteria genomics, with expertise in both beneficial and pathogenic species. His current research program focuses on factors that drive the virulence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and the development of DNA sequence-based methods for tracking pathogen spread during foodborne illness outbreaks, including wastewater monitoring.

Dr. Dudley is a past Chair of the Food Microbiology Division of the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), the Food Microbiology Representative to ASM's Council of Microbial Sciences, and a previous member of ASM's Microbe Program Committee. In 2019, he was appointed an ASM Distinguished Lecturer and Co-Editor of the Evolution and Genomics domain for ASM's online journal, EcoSal Plus. He was also elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2023. Dr. Dudley holds a Ph.D. in Bacteriology and an M.S. degree in Food Science, both from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Dr. Dudley [35:17] about:

• A study conducted by Dr. Dudley’s lab that investigated the usefulness of wastewater monitoring for surveillance of foodborne Salmonella illnesses
• How whole genome sequencing (WGS) was used to link Salmonella isolates from wastewater systems in central Pennsylvania to an existing salmonellosis outbreak
• The significance of discovering the rare S. Baildon serotype in the wastewater samples
• How wastewater monitoring activities could fill gaps created when foodborne illnesses go underreported by infected people, as well as the potential limitations of wastewater monitoring for foodborne illness surveillance
• Other foodborne pathogens besides Salmonella that could be surveilled via wastewater monitoring
• Apart from the Salmonella wastewater monitoring study, various research projects carried out by Dr. Dudley’s lab related to E. coli.

Before we speak to Dr. Dudley, we also hear from Patrick Schneider [25:37], Vice President of Operations and Engineering (Chlorine Dioxide) at CDG Environmental LLC. In his interview, he discusses the usefulness of chlorine dioxide for food plant sanitation, and what makes CDG Solution 3000^TM the “gold standard in chlorine dioxide solutions.” Prior to joining CDG Environmental, Mr. Schneider spent 35 years holding various global roles in the oil and gas industry. He holds a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Penn State University.

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