The Food Forum for Industry and Government in Southwestern Ontario
Please join us for the 32nd annual food safety workshop “A Tough Nut to Crack: Challenges in outbreak investigation of low-moisture food”, which will be held on Wednesday, June 2, 2026 at 1pm on Zoom platform.
This event is free of charge.
This multi-presentation webinar will provide a comprehensive examination of Salmonella contamination in low‑moisture foods, with emphasis on emerging scientific insights and recent large‑scale outbreak investigations in Canada. The first presentation will outline the unique challenges associated with detecting and controlling Salmonella in low‑water‑activity matrices such as seeds and spices. Drawing on multiple Canadian outbreak events, the presentation will provide current research on pathogen behavior, advances in detection methodologies, and mitigation strategies applicable to food preparation and processing. Subsequent presentations will address the multi‑jurisdictional investigation of multi‑strain Salmonella outbreak linked to pistachios. Speakers will outline the scope and complexity of this investigation—highlighting the epidemiological findings, extensive product sampling and numerous recalls. Presentations will provide information on the coordinated risk‑management actions taken, including targeted recalls, enhanced import controls, public communications, and ultimately a ban on pistachio imports from Iran.
Together, these presentations will provide both scientific insight and real‑world lessons on outbreak response, risk mitigation, and protecting public health in the context of low‑moisture food safety.
Detailed abstracts and learning objectives for each presentation will be available at https://www.ffigs.ca/.
Learning objectives:
1. Describe the unique challenges associated with detection, characterization and control of Salmonella in low-moisture food.
2. Identify effective mitigation strategies and intervention points applicable throughout the production, processing and preparation of low-moistures food.
3. Explain the investigative approaches used by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) during the multi-jurisdictional, multi-strain Salmonella outbreak associated to pistachios from Iran.
4. Summarize the epidemiological findings, risk-management actions, and operational challenges encountered during the large-scale outbreak response.
Thank you to all of the speakers and attendees who joined us for the 31st annual food safety workshop “Beyond the plate: Food safety innovations stirring up change”, held on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at the Elmhurst Inn in Ingersoll, ON.
Please see the Past Events tab for a list of past presentations.
