OBITUARY

Tom McMeekin died on 28/08/2021.

Emeritus Professor Thomas Alexander McMeekin AO FTSE was a world-leading food microbiologist whose expertise led to new systems of improving food safety around the world.

Born in Northern Ireland in 1945, Tom McMeekin completed his bachelor, PhD and DSc in Agriculture Science at Queens University in Belfast. He and his wife Jennifer moved to Australia in 1974. Though they originally intended to stay for only three years, Tom went on to become a stalwart in the Tasmanian scientific community.

His research into the chemical and physical factors behind bacterial food contamination helped pioneer the field of predictive microbiology.

“Prior to these predictive models, meat in a chiller in an export abattoir had to be cooled and then tested for the e.coli or whatever,” he once explained. This meant “holding your product until you are sure nothing has grown on it.”

“Now we can use the model as a surrogate for that testing, and the model gives you an answer in real time.”

Professor McMeekin’s research has improved meat testing standards in Australia and around the world, saving untold lives.

The Professor of Microbiology at the School of Agricultural Science at The University of Tasmania, he was instrumental in establishment in the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence.

Elected an ATSE Fellow in 1994, Professor McMeekin was a member of the Agriculture and Water Forums.

In 2013 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to science, particularly in the discipline of agricultural microbiology.” The year later he was the Tasmanian State Recipient of the Australian of the Year Awards.

Tom McMeekin died on 28 August 2021, aged 76. He was dearly loved by his wife Jennifer, children Thomas and Jane, and four grandsons. 

Dr McMeekin is an outstanding applied microbiologist with an international reputation for studies of the physical and chemical factors responsible for the adherence of contaminating bacteria to food surfaces. He is a leader in international cooperative efforts to develop predictive food microbiology through the application of mathematical models to data on microbial growth. Bacteriological problems in the oyster industry have been solved and protocols for the successful rearing of juvenile shellfish introduced into the industry. He has also demonstrated the biotechnological potential of Antarctic bacteria in production of fine chemicals and in the treatment of saline waste waters at low temperatures.