Contact
County of Arkadi, 74110, Greece Tel: +30-28310-86700 Fax: +30-28310-58035 E-mail:cretafarn@otenet.gr Website: http://www.cretafarm.gr
Role and Contribution
Workplan
Role of Subcontractor
By policy of the company analyses involving pathogen are not performed in the
in house laboratory but in the subcontracted laboratory (University of Crete,
Laboratory of Bacreriology and Zoonoses) which supports the production unit
for such work. This will be done under supervision of the principal scientist
and the scientific team of the company involved in the project.
Research Personnel
Qualifications
Creta Farm (CF) was established in 1979. Today CF is a vertically integrated
company with its own primary pig production unit (over 80000 pigs /year, operating
under ISO 9002), feed mill, slaughterhouse (over 150 pigs/hour) and state of
the art meat plant (completed in the year 2000) with a capacity of 50 tons/day,
marketing fresh meat and over 70 processed meat products (operating under ISO
9001 and HACCP) distributed nationally.
A second vertically integrated facility in Central Greece is now under construction
to produce and process over 200.000 pig/year making the company the largest
of its kind in the country. The company personnel grew from 78 in 1997 to 309
in 1999 and 700 presently. The company has a modern (completed in the year 2000)
fully equipped chemical and microbiological laboratory staffed with 7 university
graduates heavily involved in R&D projects supported by over 100 additional
scientists from the processing department and the animal production units.
The company is in close cooperation with the Veterinary School of the Aristotle
University for matters of animal disease and control and food safety, the Medical
School of the University of Crete for matters of food safety and studies on
foodborne pathogens (microbial ecology, epidemiology, physiology) and the Mediterranean
Agronomic Institute in Chania for matters of analytical chemistry and GMO. Since
2001 the company is marketing a series of modified atmosphere fresh meat products
in a limited number of location and intending to cover the whole country and
probably outside of the country.
Professor C.Genigeorgis (DVM, MSc, PhD, Dipl. European College of Veterinary
Public Health) is the team leader of this proposal for Creta Farm. He is an
emeritus professor of food safety of the University of California, Davis (UCD).
At UCD he did his graduate studies and served for over 28 years as a faculty
member. Under his direction over 65 MSc and PhD students completed their research
studies for degrees in Microbiology, Food Science, Preventive Medicine, Comparative
Pathology and Microbial Ecology. The studies were supported by dozens of competitive
grants from USDA, FDA, NIH, the food industry and the Panamerican Health Organization.
He has published over 200 papers and chapters in books and he has been an invited
speaker in over 150 international congresses and symposia dealing with microbiology,
food safety, food science, public health and veterinary medicine. He was one
of the early researchers in the world, in the late 1960`s, to investigate the
potential of predictive microbiology. Until today his publications have been
cited over 5000 times. Since 1989 he has been an invited professor of food hygiene
at the Veterinary School, Aristotle University (the highest honor given by the
University). He guided the PhD thesis of 7 students in the area of food safety,
with support from EU (AIR2-CT93-1519; FAIR1-CT95-0400), the Greek Government
and the food industry. He has been an evaluator of the completed projects of
FLAIR (1988-1993) and ECLAIR (1989-1993) Programmes (EUR 16192, report No 67).
Currently he is an emeritus professor of Aristotle University and since 2000
a senior consultant for the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology and Zoonoses,
Food Safety Unit at the University of Crete, Heraklion and senior consultant
for food safety and R&D for Creta Farm.
Selected References
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Genigeorgis, C., Martin, S., Franti, E. and Riemann, H. 1971. Initiation of staphylococcal growth in laboratory media. Appl. Microbiol. 21: 934- 939.
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Genigeorgis, C., Savoukidis, M. and Martin, S. 1971. Initiation of staphylococcal growth in processed meat environments. Appl. Microbiol. 21: 940-942.
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Genigeorgis, C. 1981. Parameters affecting the probability of growth of pathogenic microorganisms in foods. JAVMA. 179: 1410-1417.
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Genigeorgis, C. 1985. Microbial and safety implications of the use of modified atmospheres to extend the storage life of fresh meat and fish. A review. Intern. J. Food Microbiol. 1: 237-251.
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Genigeorgis, C. 1986. Microbiological safety of processed meats. Problems associated with perishable processed meats. Food Tech. 40(12): 140-154.
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Baker, D.A. and C. Genigeorgis. 1992. Predictive modeling. In: A. Hauschild and K. Dodds (eds) pp 342 - 406. Clostridium botulinum: Ecology and Control in Foods. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York
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Sergelidis,D., A. Abrahim, A. Sarimvei, A. C. Panoulis, Pr. Karaioannoglou and C. Genigeorgis. 1997. Temperature distribution and prevalence of Listeria spp in domestic, retail and industrial refrigerators in Greece. Int.J. Food Microbiol. 34: 171-177.
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Kasrazadeh,M and C. Genigeorgis. 1998. Potential growth and control of Yersinia enterocolitica in Hispanic type soft cheese. Proc.4th World Congress Foodborne Infections and Intoxication. I: 654-659.
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Razavilar, V and C.Genigeorgis. 1998. Prediction of Listeria spp. growth as affected by various levels of chemicals, pH, temperature, pH, and storage time in a model broth. Inter. J. Food Microbiol. 40:149-157.
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Gibbs,P and partners (J.de Baerdemaeker, T.Martens, J.Sheridan, D.McDowell and C.Genigeorgis).1998.The microbiological safety and quality of foods processed by the ?Sous Vide?system as a method of commercial catering. Proc. Third Inter. Symp. on Sous Vide. Leuven, Belgium. Pp. 104-130.
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Limpitakis,N.,C. Genigeorgis, A.Abrahim, L.Leontidis, S.Grafanakis and E.Iosifidou. 1999. Post harvest epidemiology of Salmonella enterica in pork: Prevelence in the environment, carcasses and by-products in two slaughterhouses in Greece (1996-1998). 3rd International Symposium on the Epidemiology and Control of Salmonella in Pork. Washington DC. USA. pp.140-150.
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Genigeorgis, C. 1999. Thermal destruction of bacterial pathogens. A review. In: L.Ellerbrook (ed.) Proceedings COST Action 97. Pathogenic microorganisms in poultry and eggs. 8. New Technology for safe and shelf stable products.- European Communities, Belgium. pp.52-71.
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Genigeorgis, C and J. Sofos. 1999. Inactivating human pathogens by processing and packaging. In: F.J.M.Smulders (ed). Veterinary Aspects of Meat Production, Processing and Inspection. ECCEAMST, Utrecht .195-231.
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Genigeorgis, C. 2002. Reducing the role of contact materials in the contamination of foods of animal origin. In: Frans J.M. Smulders and J.D. Collins (Eds), Safety assurance during food processing. Audet, Nijmegen Netherlands. In press, pp 39.
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