Postdoctoral Position Microbiology Of Food Spoilage And Innovative Molecular Tools H/F

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Project Description

Food spoilage microbiota are responsible for manufacturing incidents (changes in food color, odor, taste, texture, package swelling, etc.), rendering products unfit for consumption and constituting a major limiting factor for the commercial shelf life of food products.

Since early 2023, this concept of unfit food has been reinforced in France by the Food Alert Management Guide, which now requires notification of products unfit for consumption. By developing on food products, spoilage microflora therefore cause considerable losses in the agri-food industry (food waste, economic impact, environmental impact, loss of competitiveness). In Europe, it is estimated that 30% of food production is wasted, of which 25% is attributed to microbiological spoilage. This phenomenon is exacerbated by the Clean Label - Greener Biocide trend, packaging reduction and recyclability, and salt reduction.

Currently, there are very few standardized methods to identify the organisms responsible for spoilage and to monitor processes. There is also no offer adapted to each level of need and little or no support for agri-food industries: problem qualification, identification of spoilage organisms, and support through to the implementation of appropriate control measures (challenge tests, process validation).

The SpoiLog project aims to develop a digital, ergonomic, multi-sector database to guide manufacturers in controlling issues related to spoilage microflora, to generate new experimental data, to identify the sequencing techniques most appropriate to the challenges of spoilage, and to develop an agile investigation method for agri-food industries to control issues related to spoilage microbial flora in both conventional and innovative foods (based on plant proteins).

As part of the SpoiLog project, we are recruiting a postdoctoral researcher within the UMR SecAlim 1014 INRAE-Oniris unit. The mission will be to generate new experimental data on the characterization of spoilage microflora for currently under-documented matrices (conventional and plant-based alternatives). These new data will feed and strengthen the newly created SpoiLog database. To achieve this, the postdoc will implement classical microbiology tools and also develop innovative molecular microbiology tools (full-length 16S / ITS metabarcoding) as well as methods for quantifying spoilage bacterial and fungal populations (qPCR / PMA-qPCR). The postdoctoral researcher will play a key role in structuring an unprecedented tool in France for the prevention of microbiological spoilage and will contribute to the production of publishable data in international scientific journals.