The potentially deadly bug E-coli will come under the microscope today at an international conference.
Leading scientists are among those attending the Food Micro 2008 event in Aberdeen, which will look at the dangerous O157 mutant form of E-coli.
The bug is found in the intestines of people and cattle and can be passed on by eating infected food and liquid.
A main speaker will be prominent food safety expert Professor Hugh Pennington.
The University of Aberdeen scientist will ask the conference whether lessons have been learned from an E-coli outbreak in Lanarkshire in 1996.
The deadly outbreak saw 21 elderly people killed after eating contaminated meat from a butcher.
Mr Pennington is currently chairman of a public inquiry into a 2005 outbreak of the bug in Wales, which killed a five-year-old and left 150 others, mainly school children, ill.
The 850 delegates from 50 countries will also hear of research at the University of Aberdeen that shows E-coli infections in humans are more likely to have come from cattle than sheep.
It is hoped the research will help in the fight against the bug, which is more common in north-east Scotland than anywhere else in the UK.
Iain Ogden, senior research fellow at the University of Aberdeen, said: "Food Micro 2008 is the biggest food microbiology conference that has taken place in Europe.
"It is a tremendous opportunity for food microbiologists to share the latest thinking on key food safety issues that touch the lives of millions of people all around the world."
The conference begins today and runs until Thursday at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article