Dr Robert Barlow

Dr Robert (Bob) Barlow is Group Leader - Microbial Food Systems within the Food Program of CSIRO Agriculture & Food. He has 25 years’ experience conducting research projects on food safety, food quality, and market access scenarios that Australian agri-food supply chains must address to deliver safe and trusted products into domestic and global markets. In particular, Bob has coordinated national surveys for STEC and antimicrobial resistance and has assisted the Australian red meat industry navigate changes in importing country regulations and the methodologies that support these regulations.
His current research efforts primarily focus on the application of sensors, rapid tools and technologies, and whole-of-supply chain initiatives which generate objective evidence that supports food safety and quality credentials of food products and their supply chains. These efforts are aimed at reducing the regulatory burden for agri-food supply chains via the development of analytical platforms to capture real-time data to automate the compliance process and enable food to be produced and processed in a continuously assured way.