The global food industry is approaching a critical inflection point. Increasing supply chain complexity, evolving pathogens, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and rising consumer expectations are reshaping how food safety and quality must be managed. Approaches that delivered confidence in the past are no longer sufficient for the risks ahead. When a presumptive positive occurs today, the speed, accuracy and structure of the response can directly influence product impact, regulatory scrutiny and business risk. 

In this exclusive webinar, hosted in collaboration with The Meat Institute, industry leaders and former public health authorities will examine how advances in science are reshaping microbiological testing and what this means for the animal protein sector. 

Drawing on decades of experience at the USDA, CDC, and within global food safety organizations, Emilio Esteban and Vikrant Dutta will explore how the industry is shifting from reactive, hazardbased detection toward preventive, riskbased strategies that focus on deeper biological insight, not just pathogen presence. 

Key perspectives include: 

• Why traditional pathogen detection alone is no longer enough—and how targeting specific genetic markers can provide more meaningful, actionable intelligence 
• How microbiological testing must evolve to anticipate risk rather than simply respond to failure 
• The growing importance of sampling strategy: what to sample, where to sample, when to sample and how to generate reliable outcomes 
• Why speed matters more than ever and how faster time to results and improved efficiency support better operational decisions  
• How to make testing more useful by reducing false signals, increasing confidence in confirmation and supporting realtime operational decisions 

This discussion positions microbiological testing not as a compliance checkbox, but as a strategic tool for prevention, risk management and continuous improvement.