Alcance
This document specifies the minimum requirements for generating and analysing whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of bacteria obtained from the food chain. This process can include the following stages:a) handling of bacterial cultures;b) axenic genomic DNA isolation;c) library preparation, sequencing, and assessment of raw DNA sequence read quality and storage;d) bioinformatics analysis for determining genetic relatedness, genetic content and predicting phenotype, and bioinformatics pipeline validation;e) metadata capture and sequence repository deposition;f) validation of the end-to-end WGS workflow (fit for purpose for intended application).This document is applicable to bacteria isolated from:— products intended for human consumption;— products intended for animal feed;— environmental samples from food and feed handling and production areas;— samples from the primary production stage.