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.