20th Anniversary workshop

EURL/NRLs for Coagulase Positive Staphylococci & Listeria monocytogenes

From 21 May 2026 to 22 May 2026

 

General scope

Agenda: Link

Session 1 | Introduction and birth of EURLs
Welcome and opening of the workshop (Laurent LALOUX, Director, Laboratory for food safety)
Why did the European Commission establish the EU Reference Laboratories? (Eric POUDELET, former DG SANCO director)
History of EURLs: from birth to implementation (Bertrand LOMBARD, former director of EURLs for Lm and CPS, ANSES)

Session 2 | Trends and achievements
Monitoring trends and emerging risks related to Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus (Valentina RIZZI, EFSA, Parma, IT)
ECDC surveillance of listeriosis trends in the EU since 2006 (Taina NIKSANEN, ECDC, Stockholm, SE) online
New EURL for Food and water-borne bacteria covering Listeria (Eva MØLLER NIELSEN, EURL PH FWB, SSI, DK)
Catalyse, a project to extend the networks (Daniela BASSI, University of Cremona, IT)
From agar to algorithm: Rewiring the DNA of Food Microbiology Standardisation (Alexandre LECLERCQ, CEN TC463 chair, Pasteur Institute, FR)
20 years of highlights (EURLs for Lm and CPS teams)
EURL for Lm and CPS: future challenges (Martial PLANTADY, DG SANTE)

Session 3 | Networking and Building the future together
Investigation of the source and actions undertaken to manage the outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes IVb ST6 related to frozen corn (Zsuzsanna Lancz, NEBIH, Budapest, HU-NRL)
RS activities - Sharing experience of collaboration with Anses (Branko VELEBIT, IMNES, Belgrade, RS)
MALDI-TOF MS identification of different Listeria monocytogenes strains in the same sample (Lucija HLEBIC, CVI, Zagreb, HR-NRL)
Development of CRM (Reinhard ZELENY, EC-JRC)
- Round table: strategic orientations and future needs of NRLs networks and stakeholders
- Evaluation of National Reference Laboratories (Quizz)

Session 4 | Examples of collaborations with EU partners
Use of WGS to support the investigation of foodborne outbreaks (V. RIZZI, EFSA, Parma, IT)
Joint EURL working group on WGS (Maroua SAYEB and Marina CAVAIUOLO, ANSES)
Joint EURL working group on Measurement uncertainty (Léna BARRE and Abdelrahim ABAKABIR, ANSES)

Session 5 | Guidance documents and Training
- Guidance documents drafted by EURLs: SFPO, Shelf-life, Surface sampling, PT organisation (Adrien ASSÉRÉ and Jacques-Antoine HENNEKINNE) 
Outcomes of data from typing training sessions (Benjamin FÉLIX, ANSES)

Closure
Closure (Gilles SALVAT, Managing Director General of the Research & Reference Division)

Useful information

-> How to come to the lab?

-> Where can you find an accommodation?

-> one link

HENNEKINNE Jacques-Antoine
EURL CPS Manager
NIA Yacine
EURL CPS Deputy Manager