ABOUT COMBASE
The ComBase story
The ComBase idea, a combined database of microbial
responses to food environments was preceded by two independent,
but similar initiatives on the two sides of the Atlantic. The Ministry
of Agriculture Fisheries and Food in the United Kingdom initiated,
in 1988, a coordinated programme to collect data on the growth and
death of bacterial pathogens. Those data served as the base on which
the first validated, commercialised predictive package, Food MicroModel
was built. The task of supporting these developments was taken over,
when established, by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA). Parallel
to these events in the UK, the US equivalent of Food MicroModel
called PMP (Pathogen
Modeling Program), the first free model package, was developed
at the Eastern Regional Research Center of the USDA Agricultural
Research Service.
Meanwhile a database structure to pool available predictive microbiology
data was developed at the Institute of Food Research (IFR), Norwich,
UK. The FSA and USDA-ARS realised that it would be beneficial to
incorporate all the data in a common database. The database was
extended with data from European research institutions (data formatting
and recording were funded by the European Commission), data from
the USDA-ARS
Center of Excellence in Microbiology Modeling and Informatics
(CEMMI) and data compiled from scientific literature at IFR. This
unified database was called ComBase.
In May 2003, the Chief Executive of the UK Food Standards Agency,
the Director of the Institute of Food Research, the Director of
the ARS Eastern Regional Research Center, and the USDA-ARS National
Program Leader, signed a Concordat to affirm their commitment to
support the development, coordination and exploitation of ComBase.
As a result of this agreement, the USDA-ARS developed a web-based
browser that accesses data in the IFR ComBase database and
efficiently brings relevant data records to customers.
IFR developed various software tools
(ComBase Predictor, Perfringens
Predictor, DMFit), accompanying the database, to help users to asses
benefits and limitations of predictive mathematical models.
The European Commission, Quality of Life and Management of Living
Resources (Contract no. QLK1-CT-2002-30513: e-ComBase) funded a
two year project to incorporate the input of many data
donors into ComBase. The system has become a vital tool to assure the safety of foods in international
trade. The use of ComBase avoids unnecessary repetition
of experiments, increases the efficiency of research efforts; improves
food safety and quality; standardise the data sources for microbial
risk assessors, which will reduce the potential for trade disputes.
ComBase reached a new milestone in February 2006 when
the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence joined the ComBase
Consortium. This was announced at the 2nd International Conference
on Microbial Risk Assessment jointly organised with the 12th Australian
Food Microbiology Conference, Sydney, 21-24 February, 2006.
ComBase Associates
In 2006 a “ComBase Associate ” status was created for institutions with long term commitment
to the ComBase initiative but without a management role in the Consortium. Since then, the following institutes joined the initiative as
ComBase Associates:
Food Research Department, University of Queretaro, Mexico
Safety and Environment Assurance Centre, Unilever Research, UK
Department of Food Science and Technology, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
National Food Research Institute, Japan
WHAT'S BEING SAID ABOUT COMBASE
"ComBase can be a watershed in the development of Predictive
Microbiology and its applications"
Professor McMeekin, Co-Director of the Australian Food Safety
Centre of Excellence, in the final chapter of the McKellar,
R.C. and Lu, X (eds), 2004: Modelling Microbial responses in Foods.
CRC, Boca Raton, Fla., USA; pp 231-235. (McMeekin, T.A: An Essay
on the Unrealized Potential of Predictive Microbiology.)
"ComBase is an exemplar of the way that governments and
the research community can successfully work together to help
improve the safety of food products. The Food Standards Agency
strongly supports this initiative, its widespread application
and its use to reduce foodborne disease."
Jon Bell
Chief Executive Officer, Food Standards Agency, UK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO THOSE WHO MADE COMBASE REALITY
John Farrow Jozsef Baranyi Maribel Jarque Terry Roberts
Carmen Pin Tom Ross Mark Tamplin Jon Bell
Paul Hocking Yvan Le Marc Geraldine Hoad Lyndal Mellefont
Gary Wyatt Mike Peck Clare Aldus James Lindsay
Alistair Robertson Mike Gasson Marion Castle Jonathan Back
Julie Farjon Vijay Juneja Paul Edworthy Tom McMeckin
Susie George Tod Stewart Michelle Cole June Plowman
John Cherry Laura Ivorra John Luchansky .........
We also would like to acknowledge the data donors and Miroslava Sánchez Mendoza (Laboratorio Estatal de Salud Pública
Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico) for the Spanish translation.
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed papers introducing / utilising ComBase
Le Marc, Y., Pin C. and Baranyi J. (2005).
Methods to determine the growth domain in a multidimensional environmental
space. Int.J. Food Microbiol. 100:3-12.
Baranyi J. and Tamplin M. (2004).
ComBase:
A Common Database on Microbial Responses to Food Environments.
J. Food Prot. 67(9):1834-1840.
Tamplin, M., Baranyi J. and Paoli, G. (2003).
Software programs to increase the utility of predictive microbiology
information. In: Modelling Microbial responses in Foods. (Eds:
R.C McKellar, X. Lu.) CRC, Boca Raton, Fla.
Non-refereed publications
J. Baranyi, M. Tamplin and T. Ross (2004).
The ComBase Initiative 
Microbioloigy Australia, July 2004
J. Baranyi and T.A. Roberts (2004).
Predictive Microbiology - Quantitative Microbial
Ecology. 
Culture, February, 2004.
Baranyi J, Metris A and Dunford Z. (2003).
ComBase Publicity Leaflet, 2003 
Belsten J. and Baranyi J. (2003).
Data exchange for safer food. Food Technology International, 2004
Baranyi J. , Aldus C. & Dunford Z. (2003).
Combase. Food Engineering & Ingredients; 1/8/2003
Peck M. , Baranyi J. & Belsten J. (2003).
Microbial database could cut costs. Food Manufacturer. June/2003.
Baranyi J., Aldus C. and Dunford Z. (2003).
Safety database. The Grocer, 21/06/2003.
Baranyi J., Aldus C. and Dunford Z. (2003).
Predictive microbiology database launched. Institute of Food Technologists
Daily News, 19/06/2003.
Baranyi J. , Aldus C. and Dunford Z. (2003).
Nove k dispozici ComBase - databaze modelu prediktivni mikrobiologie
Agronavigator, 19/06/2003.
Baranyi J., Aldus C. and Dunford Z. (2003).
Virtual
safety. Food Quality News, 17/06/2003
Baranyi, J., Tamplin M. and Peck M. (1993).
ComBase:
An international database of microbial responses to food
environments. New Food 2003/1. Russel Publishing, UK.
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