J. David Legan, PhD
Director of Science
David earned his Ph.D. in Food Technology from the University of Reading in the UK by modeling the ecology of mixed microbial populations, and then moved to Campden BRI in a variety of microbiological food safety research and client service roles. During that time, he was project lead for the Bacillus component of the UK’s pathogen modeling program. He moved again to Nabisco Research in New Jersey where he ran the corporate microbiology lab and developed a program of preservation technology development and microbial modeling. After the Kraft Foods acquisition, he moved to Chicago to work on Food Safety and Preservation research, and through modeling and validation studies:
- Optimized Oscar Mayer’s use of lactate and diacetate and their naturally cultured alternatives as Listeria-control agents in Ready to Eat meats
- Specified process conditions central to Oscar Mayer’s commercial launch of High Pressure Pasteurization of naturally cured RTE meats
David had responsibility for the Kraft cultures R&D group, developed a partnership to explore microwave sterilization leading to several patents, and led a program that developed an internal proprietary natural antimicrobial commercialized in several Kraft products. Technologies from his group supported approximately $4 billion in annual sales.
After years as a microbiology "client", he is now back in the "provider" role as Director of Science at Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, Inc., by way of the Covance Food Solutions group based in Madison, WI, which he joined in 2016. In this role, he ensures appropriate method validation, explores new testing technologies, and fields multiple complicated food microbiology questions.
Products that his team has evaluated or developed and launched include:
- The 3M MDS platform in the Madison microbiology laboratory
- Flow cytometry for enumeration of probiotics
- Strain-level confirmation of probiotic identification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
- Next-generation sequencing using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies GridION sequencing platform for microbial identification and microbiome analysis
Below are resources from David:
In response to the rapidly developing, low-calorie sweetener market, Eurofins developed and validated a new HPLC analytical method for allulose determination. Learn more from Eurofins Botanicals, Director of R&D, Dr. Hong You.
Eurofins participated in this year's annual member meeting of the AOOPA, jointly hosted by the Olive Oil Council of California (OOCC). This was the first meeting with the California group. And they are taking the lead in grading and labeling certification standards for olive oils.
Fatty acids are carboxylic acids which are typically found in lipids (fats and oils) in plant and animal tissue. These acids are generally named according to the number of carbon atoms in the chain, and the number of double bonds in the chain, for example,C18:1, octadecaenoic acid contains 18 carbon atoms with a single double bond in the chain.
With so many food pathogen detection methods available deciding which is most suitable to your process, product and facility can be difficult. Read more as Eurofins dissects the pros and cons of immunoassay and molecular methodology.
This blog discusses the importance of testing aspergillus in hemp and cbd products.
Third-party food safety testing is a surefire strategy to save money, boost quality, and increase profit margins. Find out how Eurofins can partner with your company.
For microbiology both quantity and quality matter, and microbiological testing methods are classified as being either quantitative or qualitative. Which category they fall into is based on what type of data is actually collected and reported.
Here we are in the third post of a series focusing on pet food, pet treat, and pet supplement testing considerations. We have explored guaranteed analysis and other testing considerations such as shelf life and microbes. This time around I’ll expand on a topic that people often view as less a food safety issue and more of a palatability issue: Rancidity.
The success of such programs hinges not only on consistent implementation and testing, but also on the effective swabbing of your plant. Below are the top 5 mistakes our experts see plants make when sampling and submitting swabs and sponges for testing.
This series is focused on getting new pet food, pet treat, and pet supplement businesses headed down the right path.
