J. David Legan

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:

A Guide to Environmental Monitoring

This Environmental Monitoring Guide focuses on why to have an environmental monitoring program (EMP), where and how to perform environmental monitoring with the Zone concept, evaluation of results and root cause analysis when out-of-spec environmental test results are found, and corrective actions to take based on root cause analysis.

Keywords: Scientific Research Environmental Microbiology Food Meat

Validation of BACGene Salmonella Assay for the Detection of Salmonella in Spice Matrices

Spices are known to have antimicrobial and PCR inhibitory components. This research validates the performance of the BACGene Salmonella spp. realtime PCR assay for detection of Salmonella in seven spice matrices and an additional nine spices via matrix verification.

Keywords: Scientific Research Pathogen Detection Spices Ingredients Salmonella BACGene

Co-enrichment of Salmonella and STEC in Produce Matrices Prior to PCR Detection

This poster discusses research focused on the co-enrichment detection of Salmonella and STEC on produce matrices.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Produce STEC Salmonella

Postbiotics: Considerations for Safety and Quality Management

This poster discusses research with the purpose of demonstrating a proof of concept for a reliable methodology evaluating postbiotic materials as characterized by inanimate cells by flow cytometry.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Probiotics Postbiotics Flow Cytometry

Evaluation of Novel Real Time PCR Based Risk Assessment Tool – Enteric Pathogen Risk Indicator (EPRI)

This poster discusses research with the purpose to demonstrate proof of concept of the EPRI tool with real-world samples by comparing against a validated pathogen method and culture.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Produce STEC Salmonella EPRI

Evaluation of a Commercial Real Time PCR Assay Performance with Various Spices

This poster discusses research with the purpose to evaluate the performance of a commercial real-time PCR Salmonella detection method with spice matrices having antimicrobial and PCR inhibitory properties and to determine if any method modifications are required to obtain acceptable results.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Spices Ingredients

Microbiological Shelf-life and Product Spoilage: Achieving Objectives and Investigating Failures

This white paper will provide a brief overview of both prevention and investigation of spoilage. By focusing on principles, it will not be able to answer every question, but rather will illustrate questions to ask during product design and failure investigations.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Shelf-life Food Beverages Dairy Meat DLegan

Microbiological Specifications in Food Operations

Microbiological specifications are tools used to help manage risk in a food business. A specification defines the limits of acceptable and unacceptable conditions at important decision points in the manufacturing and distribution continuum, from ingredient specifications to final product specifications. In this white paper we will explore the types, uses, and creation of microbiological specifications.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Food DLegan

Protein Determination in Alternative Protein Materials

Are you incorporating novel or upcycled protein materials in your products? This handout describes a key issue surrounding traditional determination, calculation, and labeling of two compulsory nutrients (protein & carbohydrates) in the US Nutrition Facts Panel.

Keywords: Scientific Research Food Nutritional Ingredients

Microbial Growth Dynamics; A Lettuce Inoculation Study Observing STEC & Lettuce Microflora Behavior Under Stressed And Unstressed Conditions

The research and development team of Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, Inc. set out to better understand STEC growth on lettuce by designing an experiment to observe the limits of detection by real-time PCR using bacteria that were cold-stressed against those grown under non-stressed conditions. This white paper explains further.

Keywords: Scientific Research Microbiology Shelf Life Produce R&D Pathogens

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