Faculty lecture series continues with Dr. Anne Reid
Dr. Anne Reid, assistant professor in the Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, will present “When Good Foods Make You Feel Bad: Fruits and Vegetables as Vehicles for Foodborne Disease” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19 in the McKillop Library as part of the library’s faculty lecture series.
When outbreaks hit and produce disappears from grocery store shelves, you may wonder how these disease-causing bacteria got there in the first place. The usual suspects for E. coli and Salmonella food poisonings are meat, poultry and dairy products. However, the number of outbreaks linked to fresh fruits and vegetables is steadily increasing.
Reid will examine sources of contamination along the farm-to-fork continuum and discuss why simply washing produce may not be enough to prevent disease.
After earning her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Guelph, Reid completed three years of postdoctoral training in Ontario before becoming a research scientist in Health Canada’s Bureau for Microbial Hazards, where she led the Salmonella research laboratory.
Throughout her career, Reid has studied biological features of bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica that contribute to their ability to cause gastroenteritis or food poisoning. She continues to study these pathogens at Salve Regina with the help of undergraduate researchers, with a special focus on the fitness of these bacteria on fresh fruits and vegetables.
