Emeritus Professor Lars Reinius died on 16 January at the age of 92. He was the founder of Finnish academic teaching and research in the field of food hygiene. He was born on 26.07.1919 and graduated as a veterinarian in 1947 in Royal Veterinary College, Stockholm. He defended his doctoral thesis in 1953 in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Helsinki (nowadays Faculty of Veterinary Medicine), and nominated as a docent in 1955.

After graduating as a veterinarian Reinius worked as a senior assistant both in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Royal Veterinary College as well as a veterinarian in City of Helsinki. Reinius was appointed as the first Professor of Food Hygiene in 1961 and he was responsible for the establishment of the Department of Food Hygiene (nowadays Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health) and starting of the food hygiene education and research.

Between 1966-1969 he worked as Rector of the College of Veterinary Medicine and took part effectively in the development of veterinary education in Finland.

In 1970, Reinius moved to work with the health legislation issues related to world′s meat trade, in FAO, Rome. In 1972 he moved to Geneva and later to Berlin, to work for WHO. In WHO he worked as a scientific expert on food hygiene and food poisoning monitoring. Reinius was retired in 1984.

Written by Johanna Seppälä.

Total of 51 scientific posters were presented at the Annual Veterinary Meeting. 16 posters were selected for further reviewing. Three posters were awarded and one of them was made by DVM Sonja Virtanen from Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health. Title of the poster was “Piglets are the source of Yersinia enterocolitica on fattening farms.”

The authors of the work “Prevalence and prevention of pathogenic Yersinia on pig farms” were DVM Sonja Virtanen, DVM Laura Laakso, DVM, PhD Riikka Laukkanen-Ninios, Professor Maria Fredriksson-Ahomaa and Professor Hannu Korkeala.
Considerable variation exists in the prevalence of pathogenic Yersinia between different farms. The project is detecting the farm factors affecting the prevalence of pathogenic Yersinia. The aim of this study is to make recommendations, according to the results, on how to prevent pathogenic Yersinia at the farm level. The project started in the summer 2009 and will continue until the autumn 2012.

The project runs in co-operation with the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health and the Association for Animal Disease Prevention. The project leader is Professor Hannu Korkeala and the corresponding researcher is DVM , Sonja Virtanen. The project is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

DVM, Marjo Ruusunen, will give a lecture titled Spore-forming bacteria in dairy products. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 14.12.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

DVM, Elias Dahlsten, will give a lecture titled Two-component systems in stress tolerance of Clostridium botulinum. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 23.11.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

DVM, PhD, Leena Räsänen, will give a lecture titled Risk management of zoonotic antimicrobial resistance. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 9.11.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

PhD, MSc. , Heidi Hyytiäinen, will give a lecture titled Fluoroquinolone resistance in Campylobacter jejuni. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 26.10.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

The NKVET 2011 Symposium will be arranged in Helsinki on 6.-7.10.2011.

This year the topic will be environmental toxicology and ecotoxicology. The speakers in the Symposium will include leading experts of these fields not only from the Nordic countries but also from England and the Netherlands.

For the program of the Symposium and further information, click here.

MSc, Doctoral Student , Pradeep Kumar Kondadi, will give a lecture titled Effect of sialic acid of H. bizzozeronii lipopolysaccharides on TLR2 response. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 5.10.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

DVM, Doctoral Student, Maria Rönnqvist, will give a lecture titled Detection and incidence of norovirus in food industry with surface sampling. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 14.9.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

DVM Sanna Hellström’s academic dissertation was presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, for public examination in Auditorium Arppeanum, Helsinki on 9th September 2011.

Title of thesis is “Contamination routes and control of Listeria monocytogenes in food production”. The opponent was docent, DVM, PhD Sebastian Hielm from Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the custos was professor Hannu Korkeala.