Newswise Feb. 4, 2013 Dr. Lance Price, an Associate Professor at the Translational Genomic Research Institute (TGen), has been appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).

Dr. Price also is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) at George Washington (GW) University.

As a member of the NACMCF, Dr. Price will counsel President Obamas Cabinet the Secretaries of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services on food-safety issues. Specifically, the 30-member panel assesses the microorganisms that indicate whether foods have been properly processed.

This appointment is a tremendous opportunity for the work that we've been conducting at TGen and GW to be translated into a safer food supply for the American public, Dr. Price said.

Dr. Price is Director of the Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health at TGens Pathogen Genomics Division, also known as TGen North, in Flagstaff, Ariz. There, Dr. Price and his team are helping pioneer a technique called "genomic epidemiology" to study new and emerging foodborne pathogens.

Dr. Price's group uses the genetic code of foodborne bacteria and human bacterial infections to measure how often these bacteria make us sick. His team is currently studying a special kind of E. coli found on poultry products that may be causing antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections, particularly in women.

Dr. Paul Keim, Director of TGen North and the Cowden Endowed Chair of Microbiology at Northern Arizona University (NAU), praised the selection of Dr. Price.

Lance is one of the leading scientists in his field. This appointment is not only an honor for him, but also will add to the quality of information and knowledge available to the NACMCF, and thereby brace the governments ability to help protect public health, said Dr. Keim, a world-renowned expert in anthrax and other infectious diseases who also is Director of NAUs Microbial Genetics & Genomics Center, a program that works with numerous government agencies to help thwart bioterrorism and the spread of pathogen-caused diseases.

The NACMCF is chartered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).

NACMCF members are scientists from academia, industry, other organizations, and federal and state government, as well as one individual affiliated with a consumer group. They are appointed by the USDA Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of HHS, and with advice from the Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service, the Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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TGen/GW Microbiology and Environmental Health Expert Dr. Lance Price Appointed to Federal Food-Safety Panel