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Microbiological Investigation of Food Contact Surfaces and Mapping of AMR Hotspots

Project ID: INDERE_2025_AMR    
Type of action: INDERE INTERNALLY FUNDED PROJECT
Granting authority: InDeRe Institute for Food System Research and Innovation Non-profit Public-benefit Ltd.
Duration: January 01, 2025 – December 31, 2028.

Summary of the project

Food contact surfaces, hard-to-clean equipment zones, and persistent biofilms may play an important role in cross-contamination and in the persistence of antimicrobial resistance within the food chain. The project aims to identify AMR hotspots where microbiological contamination, hygiene deficiencies, and the occurrence of resistance-related signals jointly indicate increased risk.
The research will combine repeated surface sampling in real operating environments with classical microbiology, susceptibility testing, and targeted molecular analyses. Laboratory findings will be linked to operational metadata such as surface material, moisture, cleaning regime, accessibility, product type, and human contact intensity in order to build a practical hotspot classification model.
The expected outputs include a sector-specific AMR hotspot map, a risk ranking framework, and validated recommendations for sampling, sanitation verification, and self-check system development. The project is designed to deliver directly applicable knowledge for food businesses, laboratories, and food safety stakeholders.

    Keywords

    food contact surfaces, antimicrobial resistance, AMR hotspots, biofilm, hygiene monitoring, resistome, sanitation validation, food safety

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