Report

ACMSF Annual Report 2025

Last updated: 16 April 2026

Foreword

2025 was a year of transition and consolidation for ACMSF. The Committee marked the final meeting of outgoing Chair Professor Charles Keevil in February and welcomed Mr. Alec Kyriakides as Chair from June. Under new stewardship, ACMSF began shaping a delivery plan to modernize agendas, strengthen horizon scanning and industry engagement, and integrate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) considerations directly into plenary business. The Committee also refreshed its expertise profile and agreed practical measures to improve the efficiency and impact of its advice.

Introduction

The Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) is an independent scientific advisory committee sponsored by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). It provides risk assessment and strategic advice on microbiological safety of food to support FSA policy and operations. This report summarizes administrative matters and substantive work undertaken during calendar year 2025, with a forward look to 2026.

Those seeking further information on a particular subject can obtain details from the discussion papers and minutes, available from the Committee’s website or ACMSF Secretariat.

The various issues addressed by the Committee since its inception are detailed in this and previous Annual Reports and in a series of subject-specific reports.

ACMSF is committed to opening its work to public scrutiny. The agendas, minutes, and papers (subject to rare exceptions on grounds of commercial or other sensitivity) of the full Committee’s meetings are publicly available and are posted on the ACMSF website. Also, on the Committee’s website are summaries of meetings of the Working and Ad Hoc groups.

In common with other independent advisory committees, Committee members are required to follow a Code of Conduct which also gives guidance on how commercial interests should be declared. Members are required to declare any commercial interests on appointment and, again during meetings if a topic arises in which they have an interest. If a member declares a specific interest in a topic under discussion, and it is considered to be a conflict of interest, he or she may, at the Chairman's discretion be allowed to take part in the discussion but is excluded from decision-making. The Committee’s Code of Conduct is available here and the Good Practice Agreement for Scientific Advisory Committees can be found on the FSA’s website.

Chapter 1: Administrative Matters

1.1 Membership appointments

Chair: Mr Alec Kyriakides (from March 2025).

Professor Muna Anjum

Dr Fahad Ahmed

Professor Alasdair Cook

1.2 Membership Retirements

Chair: Professor Charles Keevil (in March 2025)

1.3 Committee expertise review

In October, the Secretariat (paper ACM/1455) presented a review of members’ self-assessed expertise across 49 topics. Strong coverage was confirmed in core microbiology and epidemiology; potential gaps were identified in virology, behavioral science, and advanced risk modelling. Members agreed to target these areas in future recruitment and to assess sectoral expertise (manufacturing, retail, catering) at a future meeting.

1.4 Declarations of interest

Full details of the membership of the Committee and its Working and Ad Hoc Groups are given in Annex I. Members are required to declare any direct commercial interest in matters under discussion at each meeting, in accordance with the ACMSF’s Code of Practice. Declarations made are recorded in the minutes of each meeting.

1.5 Meetings held in 2025

The full Committee convened three times in 2025. The February meeting was chaired by Professor Charles Keevil, while the June and October meetings were chaired by Mr Alec Kyriakides. Meeting details include:

108th plenary – 6 February 2025, Broadway House, London
109th plenary – 18 June 2025, Foss House, York
110th plenary – 23 October 2025, Milner Hotel, York

Complete attendance list, Secretariat roles, presenters and observers are listed in Annex II.

The Listeria Monocytogenes Working Group held an online meeting on the 8^th of December. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Gauri Godbole.

1.6 Working arrangements and openness

Meetings continued in hybrid format, with public open sessions and reserved business handled in closed sessions. The Chair continued to reiterate confidentiality obligations for reserved business and requested improvements to ensure reserved items are not visible during public sessions.

To streamline governance, the Chair proposed in October that future minutes be confirmed by exception via email, with members raising only material amendments during meetings to avoid discussion of reserved business items in the open sessions.

The AMR Working Group was stood down in June and its remit integrated into plenary for greater visibility.

1.7 Meeting minutes in 2025

Minutes for the three plenary meetings are available on the committee’s website ACMSF 2025 meetings | Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of food.

1.8 Papers the committee considered in 2025

Paper Number	Name of Paper	Meeting Number	Date of Meeting
ACM/MIN/107	Minutes of the 107^th Meeting	108th	6^th February
ACM/1439	Matters arising	108th	6^th February
ACM/1440–1442	HPAI B3.13 risk assessments	108th	6^th February
ACM/1443	EFIG summary (reserved)	108th	6^th February
ACM/1444	Items of literature	108th	6^th February
ACM/1445	Update from other committees	108th	6^th February
ACM/MIN/108	Minutes of the 108^th Meeting	109th	18^th June
ACM/1446	Chair’s vision & new members	109th	18^th June
ACM/1447	Matters arising	109th	18^th June
ACM/1448	COT workshop: xenobiotics & microbiome	109th	18^th June
ACM/1449	Predictive microbiology lag phase (reserved)	109th	18^th June
ACM/1450	EFIG summary (reserved)	109th	18^th June
ACM/1451	Items of literature	109th	18^th June
ACM/1452	Update from other committees	109th	18^th June
ACM/MIN/109	Minutes of the 109^th Meeting	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1453	Matters arising	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1454	Chair delivery plan	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1455	Expertise review	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1456	HPRU overview	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1457	IID3 update (reserved)	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1458	Food attribution (reserved)	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1459	Trend analysis guidance	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1460	Extraordinary EFIG update (reserved)	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1461	C. botulinum in cattle (reserved)	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1462	Items of literature	110th	23^rd October
ACM/1463	Update from other committees	110th	23^rd October

Chapter 2: The Committee’s Work in 2025

2.1 Plenary meeting discussion items

2.1.1 Matters arising (open)

In February, ACM/1439 covered matters arising. Highlights included publication of the 106th minutes; a report on ACMSF members’ views on Listeria regulations; responses to public forum questions on Clostridium botulinum guidance and bacteriophage regulation (noting a cross-government initiative led by MHRA); and clarifications on PATH-SAFE sampling/testing.

In June, ACM/1447 summarized actions since the 108th meeting, including clarification of UKHSA Listeria surveillance sampling (ad hoc, risk-based; caution on representativeness) and engagement with the IID3 consortium on lessons learned.

In October, ACM/1453 tracked progress on prior actions: anticipated publication of the pet food survey (January 2026); planned collaboration with the Food Safety Research Network (FSRN) on horizon scanning in June 2026; inclusion of specific advisory questions in future agenda papers; EFIG reports to flag unknown sample denominators and include species-specific Salmonella data; raising STEC in raw drinking milk with communications/policy; review of threshold-based surveillance; and follow-up on antimicrobial claims for chopping boards.

2.1.2 Root Cause Analysis (RCA) – FSA Incident Prevention Team (Open)

The FSA Incident prevention team presented the application of Root Cause Analysis across incidents since 2015, including benefits for prevention and knowledge sharing, and challenges in data quality and standardization. The Committee emphasized the distinction between root cause and source attribution and discussed the potential use of AI to support analysis

2.1.3 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) B3.13 – Microbiological Risk Assessments (Open)

The Committee reviewed three risk assessments related to HPAI H5N1 clade 1.3.4.4b genotype B3.13. For imported US dairy and beef products, risk to UK consumers was assessed as negligible, with pasteurization effective and cooking reducing infectivity. Uncertainties included virus behavior in aged cheeses and surveillance limitations. For a hypothetical UK scenario, pasteurized milk was assessed as negligible risk per portion; raw cow’s drinking milk was assessed as medium risk per portion with high uncertainty. A hypothetical UK beef assessment remained negligible per portion. Members suggested future consideration of offal used in raw pet food.

2.1.4 Predictive microbiology and lag phase modelling (COMBASE) – FSS (closed)

Discussion of ACM/1449 focused on the physiological state parameter (α) and whether α = 1 (no lag) should be the default. Members noted upcoming COMBASE defaults (α = 1; starting count = 3) adopting a precautionary stance. The Committee agreed α = 1 should be default across pathogens, that businesses seldom can justify alternative values without robust evidence, and that guidance must clearly state COMBASE is supportive rather than definitive. Suggested edits included more cautious phrasing and simplifying worked examples.

2.1.5 Food Safety Research Network (FSRN) – Quadram Institute (Open)

FSRN reported renewal through 2028 and investment across projects and workshops covering Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter; novel technologies (vertical farming, insect protein); knowledge translation; domestic food safety; low-moisture foods; alternative proteins; biofilms; AI applications; and a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) toolkit. ACMSF supported collaboration on horizon scanning and offered expert input to the STEC testing toolkit and the Food Microbiology Intelligence Network pilot.

2.1.6 COT workshop: xenobiotics and the microbiome (Open)

The Committee heard a summary of the Committee on Toxicity workshop examining xenobiotics and the microbiome. Key themes included challenges in defining a healthy microbiome, influences of diet and stress, the role of microbial metabolites, the need for standardization and reference populations, and the potential of AI to analyze complex datasets. Members supported development of interim guidance as the science evolves.

2.1.7 Epidemiology of Foodborne Infections Group (EFIG) – Reserved Business

In February, the first pathogen-based meeting format for EFIG was reported, with a farm-to-fork lens. A query was raised on denominators for Listeria food surveillance. In June, highlights included a cautious decrease in Salmonella isolations from raw pet food (with Q1 2025 uptick vs Q1 2024), decline in canine Salmonella cases, a shift towards pig-linked incidents, concerns about ambiguous pet food labelling, international trends in carbapenem-resistant Salmonella Agona, persistent issues with Polish poultry, increased Salmonella infections in the UK (highest rise in Scotland), an STEC incident linked to raw drinking milk, and revised thresholds for low-incidence pathogens such as Listeria.

2.1.8 IID3 study updates – Reserved Business

During the February meeting, IID3 reported data collection running from September 2023 to September 2025, with recruitment and sample numbers exceeding IID2. A correction noted ~100 samples per week processing, implying potential unfunded samples by project end. Focus areas included data linkage and under-represented age groups (<16 years). During the June meeting, AMR integration was discussed: whole genome sequencing provides genotypic AMR data; phenotypic testing was out of scope due to budget. High proportions of no-pathogen detected samples were explored, with possible explanations including sampling timing, storage/transport issues, and diagnostic limits. In October, a detailed update covered digital recruitment (>9,000 participants; >100 GP practices), three-cohort design, WGS on selected pathogens, co-infections, demographic representativeness, escalation tracking (GP/hospital), and regional diagnostic practice.

2.1.9 Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU, GI infections) – University of East Anglia (Open)

The HPRU presented work across diagnostics (microbiome influences; neglected pathogens), integrated surveillance (AI/ML synthesis), evidence-based interventions (drivers of IID; Food Check initiative), pandemic preparedness (dose-response modelling; seasonal immunity; dose dynamics), and public and patient involvement. Projects included PRISM micro-simulation for food-chain risk and work pivoting to inland water quality. Collaboration with IID3 and FSA was highlighted.

2.1.10 Development of microbiological trend analysis guidance – FSS (Open)

FSS proposed practical guidance to help food business operators undertake microbiological trend analysis as required under retained EU law. Barriers include low awareness, limited statistical capacity, disparate data formats, inconsistent sampling, and misinterpretation. The Committee supported a multi-stakeholder working group (ACMSF, FSS, FSA, industry, enforcement) and a tiered guidance approach (minimum standard and advanced options), with a clear value proposition for businesses and enforcement officers

2.1.11 Extraordinary EFIG update – thresholds and hypotheses (Reserved Business)

An extraordinary EFIG meeting update addressed exceedances in UKHSA laboratory detection thresholds for Salmonella and Campylobacter. Hypotheses explored included increased PCR use, poultry imports, consumer behaviors, pet ownership and raw pet food, international travel, and climate impacts. Members recommended demographic analyses, overlaying Office for National Statistics population distributions on charts, and adding work timelines. Recent Food and You 2 statistics on risky behaviors were noted as likely contributors, while emphasizing multifactorial causation.

2.1.12 Food attribution (expert elicitation) – FSA Operational Research (Reserved Business)

The FSA operational research team outlined plans to estimate relative and absolute UK-acquired IID by transmission route, focusing on foodborne attribution by food category and ~21 pathogens (including viruses). Methodology will use a two-round expert elicitation supported by outbreak data and a systematic review (with AI-assisted tools under evaluation), alongside sensitivity analyses to address bias. A provisional timeline runs from survey development and recruitment (February) through analysis (July - August).

2.1.13 AMR in chicken processing – University of Lincoln (Reserved Business)

A study across 376 samples from two plants found 65.1% Campylobacter positivity and 95.6% E. coli positivity, with higher counts earlier in processing. Campylobacterresistance was highest to tetracycline (53%) and lowest to erythromycin (7%); E. coli resistance was highest to ampicillin (80%) and lowest to chloramphenicol (13%). Approximately 7% of C. jejuni and 60% of E. coli isolates were resistant to three or more antimicrobial classes. Genetic diversity and plasmid profiles varied; overall diversity, ARGs, and phages decreased as processing progressed, attributed to hygiene interventions.

2.1.14 C. botulinum in cattle – withdrawal guidance (Reserved Business)

APHA briefed the committee on a severe feed-linked outbreak (five farms; >800 cattle deaths) and proposed voluntary withdrawal periods. The Committee cautioned against policy change based on a single event, urged differentiation between feed-related and pasture cases, highlighted economic impacts, and recommended commissioning a formal risk assessment. The Secretariat was asked to engage FSA policy.

2.2 The Subgroup’s Committee’s Work in 2025

2.2.1 Listeria Monocytogenes working group

The ACMSF Listeria Monocytogenes Working Group met on 8 December 2025 to review two key international reports; the FAO/WHO Risk Assessment of Listeria Monocytogenes in Foods and the ECDC’s framework for integrating molecular and genomic typing into European surveillance, to assess their suitability for UK application. Members concluded that while the reports were logical and well structured, several limitations hinder direct adoption in the UK, including a lack of essential national datasets for environmental and primary production stages, differences in likely food vehicles (with UK outbreaks more commonly linked to ready-to-eat foods rather than frozen vegetables), concerns that strain virulence classifications oversimplify disease potential, and restricted data-sharing infrastructure that prevents routine access to valuable genomic and surveillance information generated by industry and private laboratories. The subgroup agreed to prepare a formal evaluation report assessing the extent to which the two international reports are actionable within the UK, identifying the key evidence and infrastructure gaps, highlighting elements that could be adopted immediately, and outlining areas requiring further investment, research, or legislative change. To support this, a delivery timeline was established for 2026, including circulation of minutes and a report template in February, completion of a first draft by March, finalisation in April, a provisional subgroup meeting in May, and presentation of the final report to the full ACMSF in June.

2.2.2 Surveillance working group

Terms of reference: To facilitate the provision of ACMSF advice to government in connection with its microbiological food surveillance programme and other surveillance relevant to foodborne disease, particularly in relation to the design, methodology, sampling and statistical aspects; and to report back regularly to the ACMSF.

2.2.3 Subgroup on microbiological risk assessments in relation to food incidents

Role: Review the FSA’s risk assessments in relation to incidents

2.2.4 Subgroup on newly emerging pathogen

Terms of reference: To gather intelligence on a continuous basis in order to facilitate the rapid identification of potential threats to UK consumers from exposure to newly emerging or re-emerging pathogens through food chain exposure pathways.

2.3 Document review for FSA quality assurance

Throughout 2025, Committee members provided comments and feedback as part of the FSA quality assurance process for a range of documents, including strategic risk assessments, technical advice, and research projects.

Genomics of antimicrobial resistant Campylobacter transmission through UK Agri-Food systems, University of Oxford
Correlating surveillance of foodborne pathogens in wastewater with IID determination in the UK population (FSA project FS900511)
A survey of microbiological and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) contamination found in raw dog and cat food on retail sale in the UK (FSA Project FS900253)

2.4 Annual Costs

The operation of the ACMSF is funded by the FSA. The total cost for members expenses and fees in 2025 was £28,404.10. Information on fee rates and expenses guidance are included in the ACMSF’s Code of Practice.

Chapter 3: Forward Look (2026)

A multi‑stakeholder horizon‑scanning exercise is planned for June 2026, potentially delivered through an ad hoc group in collaboration with FSRN. Work is also progressing on industry‑aligned meetings and site visits. Proposals for site visits include those focused on chicken, sandwiches, eggs, produce, and seafood. Consideration will need to be given to biosecurity and logistical constraints, and there will be a need to explore virtual or AI‑supported alternatives. The microbiological trend analysis guidance will move forward through a dedicated working group involving FSS, FSA, industry, and enforcement partners, aiming to produce tiered guidance with sampling and interpretation examples, along with analytics options suitable for SMEs. For EFIG reporting, efforts will continue to highlight denominator limitations, expand species‑specific Salmonella analysis, and strengthen the capture of travel history data. IID3 work will complete outstanding analysis and linkage tasks, address demographic representativeness, synthesise insights on genotype-severity relationships, and align outputs with wider HPRU findings. Finally, the food attribution expert‑elicitation project will deliver UK‑specific estimates by route and category, underpinned by sensitivity analyses and clearly articulated caveats.

Annex I Membership

Mr Alec Kyriakides - Chair

Alec Kyriakides is a food safety consultant with over 35 years experience in the industry.

Dr Fahad Ahmed

Dr Fahad is a Lecturer in Veterinary Public Health and Food Regulation within the School of Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University.

Dr Wayne Anderson

Dr Wayne Anderson is Director of the Food Science and Standards Division at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Professor Muna Anjum

Prof. Muna Anjum is an established national and international science lead in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and zoonotic pathogens.

Dr Dragan Antic

Dr Dragan Antic is a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool.

Dr Adri Bester

Dr Adri Bester is Senior Food Technologist in the School of Applied Science, London South Bank University, and a mentor and auditor for the Safe and Local Supplier Approval Accreditation.

Mr Martin Briggs

Mr Martin Briggs is a feed industry expert with over 46 years’ experience in farm animal feeds. He has a degree in Applied Biology and is currently an independent feed industry consultant. He was previously employed as a Technical Manager for GLW Feeds Ltd, a large multi-species compound feed manufacturer, with previous roles as Mill and Operations Managers.

Professor Francis Butler

Professor Francis Butler is currently a Professor in the School of Biosystems and Food Engineering at University College Dublin and a Principal Investigator in the UCD Centre for Food Safety. His main research area is in food safety with a particular focus on quantitative risk assessment /modelling of microbiological hazards in foods.

Professor Alasdair Cook

Prof Alasdair Cook is a veterinary epidemiologist with more than 25 years national and international experience in animal health in Government, academic, commercial and development environments.

Dr Inaki Deza-Cruz

Dr Inaki Deza Cruz is a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and a visiting lecturer at University of Surrey. With over 20 years of experience in the field, Dr Deza-Cruz has cultivated a rich and diverse background, having worked in academia, the private sector, and government organizations such as the FSA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency. His career has grown at the intersection of human and animal health, focusing on the two vital aspects of veterinary public health: epidemiology and food safety.

Dr Edward Fox

Dr Edward Fox is a Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University and has previously held a Newman Fellowship at University College Dublin’s Centre for Food Safety where his research examined food processing hygiene and food safety, and the role of microbial communities in influencing the colonisation of pathogenic bacteria in food processing environments.

Dr Jane Gibbens

Dr Jane Gibbens is a consultant veterinary epidemiologist with extensive experience in providing advice to enable veterinary policy making and development, and in the design, implementation and analysis of disease surveillance and control protocols. She formerly worked for Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, most recently as Head of the Bovine TB Epidemiology Assessment Centre, and Head of the Epidemiology and Risk Group. Her focus has been on bovine tuberculosis, statutory diseases exotic to the UK and scanning veterinary surveillance.

Dr Nicol Janecko

Dr Nicol Janecko is an epidemiologist and microbiologist by training with a long-standing career focus on foodborne zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. She is presently the Campylobacterin the food chain Career Track Group Leader at the Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK.

Mr Andrew MacLeod

Mr Andrew MacLeod is a Chartered Scientist and senior food safety specialist.

Prof Andrew Page

Prof Andrew Page works in the field of computing sciences and bioinformatics. He is currently serving as the Chief Technical Officer at Origin Sciences where he is responsible for leading bioinformatics and genomics for cancer diagnostics.

Prof Cath Rees

Professor Cath Rees is a Professor of Microbiology in the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham.

Prof Linda Scobie

Professor Linda Scobie presently teaches Biomedical Science and Microbiology programmes at Glasgow Caledonian University. She leads a research group interested in viral zoonoses in the context of novel technologies.

Ms Claire Tomaso

Ms Claire Tomaso is a Principal Environmental Health Officer managing the Food Safety Team within the London Borough of Enfield. She also lectures at Middlesex University in Environmental Health.

Dr Roberto Vivancos

Dr Roberto Vivancos is a consultant in public health and medical epidemiologist working with the Field Services of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). He has over 15 years of experience working in Public Health in the fields of health protection and epidemiology. He has contributed to the investigation of numerous outbreaks of gastrointestinal infections and food related illness, from local to international level, working closely with local and national authorities, and regulatory agencies. He has been involved in several collaborative research projects focusing on the burden, epidemiology, and control of gastrointestinal infections. He is currently co-director of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections and has published widely on epidemiology and communicable disease control in peer reviewed scientific journal.

Annex II: Meetings, attendees and secretariat (2025)

108th meeting – 6 Feb 2025 (Broadway House, London)

Chair: Prof Charles Keevil.

Members: Dr Rohini Manuel; Dr Edward Fox; Ms Claire Tomaso; Dr Nicol Janecko; Prof Cath Rees; Prof Andrew Page; Dr Adri Bester; Prof Linda Scobie; Mr Martin Briggs; Dr Dragan Antic; Dr Iñaki Deza-Cruz; Dr Wayne Anderson (closed-session only); Prof Francis Butler; Dr Roberto Vivancos.

Apologies: Dr Jane Gibbens; Ms Azuka Aghadiuno.

Secretariat: Dr Anthony Wilson; Dr Lauren Adams; Ms Archana Gadaria; Ms Carol Scott.

FSA attendees: Dr Mindy Dulai; Dr Wioleta Trzaska; Dr Erica Kintz; Ms Amy Hale; Dr Lorcan Browne; Chief Scientific Adviser Robin May.

Observers: Chilled Food Association; Samworth Brothers; University of Lincoln.

109th meeting – 18 Jun 2025 (Foss House, York)

Chair: Mr Alec Kyriakides.

Members: Dr Edward Fox; Ms Claire Tomaso; Dr Nicol Janecko; Prof Cath Rees; Prof Andrew Page; Dr Adri Bester; Prof Linda Scobie; Dr Jane Gibbens; Mr Martin Briggs; Dr Dragan Antic; Dr Iñaki Deza-Cruz; Dr Wayne Anderson; Prof Francis Butler; Dr Roberto Vivancos; Dr Fahad Ahmed; Prof Muna Anjum; Prof Alasdair Cook.

Secretariat: Dr Anthony Wilson; Dr Lauren Adams; Dr Elaine Pegg; Ms Michelle Hutchison; Ms Archana Gadaria.

Presenters: Prof Matthew Gilmour; Dr Olivia Osborne; Dr Lauren Adams; Dr Karen Pearson (FSS).

110th meeting – 23 Oct 2025 (Milner Hotel, York)