The Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) has postponed its 7th High-Throughput Sequencing Symposium and Whole Genome Sequence Analyses Workshop, originally set for May 20-21 in Chicago. 

Behzad Imanian, Ph.D., IFSH High-Throughput Sequencing Initiative Leader, announced the decision, pointing to uncertainties such as travel and attendance restrictions, job instability for federal agency colleagues and notably low registration numbers. The events are tentatively rescheduled for late fall this year or spring 2026.

The symposium was poised to advance discussions on high-throughput sequencing technology, a cornerstone for modernizing food safety systems. Experts from the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, academia and industry were slated to explore innovations, legal hurdles and applications such as detecting pathogens and combating antimicrobial resistance. Organizers anticipated networking and panel discussions on the technology’s evolving role in safeguarding food supplies.

The postponement reflects broader challenges facing food safety initiatives, including budget constraints impacting federal agencies, according to the event organizers. Recent years have seen growing concerns about funding cuts to programs like the FDA’s food safety division, which relies on stable resources to drive research, inspections and outbreak responses. Reduced staffing and travel budgets have strained collaborations essential for events like the IFSH symposium, limiting participation from government scientists and industry stakeholders alike.

Imanian expressed disappointment but reaffirmed IFSH’s commitment to resuming the symposium when conditions improve. The delay highlights the ripple effects of resource shortages on critical food safety advancements, underscoring the need for sustained investment to protect public health, he said.