| October 5, 2001 |
The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition awarded research funds in September 2001 to augment its food safety research program in the areas of detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (BSE/TSE), consumer refrigeration practices and shelf-life for ready-to-eat foods, the potential for Listeria cross-contamination in the retail environment, and microbial contamination of water.
Six new grants totaling approximately $800,000 were funded.
Project Title: Development of Cell and Nanoparticle Based Sensors for BSE
Organization: Chemical Engineering Department, Texas A&M University
Principal Investigator: Dr. Theresa A. Good
Ist Year Award Amount: $100,635
Duration of Award: 2 years
Development of two types of sensors for the detection of BSE, and in particular, for the detection of PrPSC is proposed. The first sensor will utilize the rapid change in color/aggregation of Betta splendens erythrophores, Siamese fighting fish chromatophores, in response to PrP, amyloid proteins and PrPSC to achieve rapid but non-specific screening for PrPSC. The second sensor will utilize gold nanoparticles with polyclonal antibodies attached to PrPSC to achieve a sensitive and selective detection of PrPSC. The gold nanoparticles have a plasmon resonance band that absorbs at a particular wavelength. This absorption will undergo a shift in wavelength that will allow detection when the nanopartices aggregate due to multivalent antibody binding to PrPSC. Together, these two sensors should provide detection tool for the monitoring of CFSAN regulated products.
Project Title: Consumer Storage Length Practices for Ready-to-Eat Foods
Organization: Center for Regulatory Economics and Policy Research, Research Triangle Institute
Principal Investigator: Dr. Roberta A. Morales
Ist Year Award Amount: $139,980 ($89,980 FDA-CFSAN / $50,000 USDA-FSIS)
Duration of Award: 2 years
The research is intended to develop a baseline of information on consumer refrigeration storage practices for unopened
and opened packages of ready-to-eat foods (RTE) using a nationally representative Web-enabled panel of consumers. The
survey design is intended to provide estimates of storage practices for two at-risk populations, pregnant women and
seniors (60 and over), as well as the remaining population. Storage practices data will be collected on 12 high and
moderate risk food categories identified in the Listeria monocytogenes risk assessment. Consumer understanding of
expiration dates and how they use this information in making decisions regarding purchases, consumption, and home
refrigeration storage conditions will be explored and demographic profiles of high-risk consumer storage practices
developed.
Project Title: Consumer Handling of Ready-to-Eat Foods After Purchase
Organization: Dept. Family and Consumer Sciences, Tennessee Sate University
Principal Investigator: Dr. Sandria L. Godwin
Ist Year Award Amount: $144,659
Duration of Award: 3 years
This project will determine how consumers handle ready-to-eat (RTE) food products and how consumer practices impact the microbiological safety of RTE foods. The identity and frequency of the RTE food products consumed will be determined. Consumer awareness of food safety issues as they apply to RTE food products and their understanding of safety label information will also be assessed. Duplicate surveys will be conducted using 400 persons in six states who will complete questionnaires addressing such activities as the purchase, transport, handling, and storage of opened and unopened RTE food products, and use of safety labeling information. An additional 75 persons will specifically respond to questionnaires on RTE dairy foods.
Project Title: Transfer Coefficients for Listeria Cross-Contamination
Organization: National Food Safety and Toxicology Center, Michigan State University
Principal Investigator: Dr. Ewen Todd
Ist Year Award Amount: $147,142
Duration of Award: 3 years
The purpose of this study is to develop a series of L. monocytogenes transfer coefficients that can be incorporated into risk assessment calculations to determine the likelihood of cross contamination between foods marketed within retail foodservice establishments and delicatessens. Direct transfer rates for L. innocua between ready-to-eat foods and inanimate food contact surfaces will be determined. An assessment of the impact of biofilm formation on the Listeria transfer rate will be made and a mathematical model based on data from these objectives that will express and quantify transfer potentials in the retail foodservice environment will be formulated for use in refining current risk assessment strategies.
Project Title: Irrigation Water Quality, Impact on Produce Safety
Organization: Dept. of Food Science, Rutgers University
Principal Investigator: Dr. Karl Robert Matthews
Ist Year Award Amount: $101,347
Duration of Award: 2 years
The study will test water samples for the presence of Enterobacteriaceae and specific target pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Shigella. The impact of irrigation method on contamination of field crops will be determined. The long-term survival of target pathogens in agricultural water will be evaluated and cell surface moieties involved in adherence investigated. The project will endeavor to assemble a detailed understanding of the potential risks associated with the irrigation of produce as a foundation to formulating guidance on safe and appropriate agricultural irrigation practices.
Project Title: Role of Irrigation Methods on Microbial Food Safety
Organization: Dept. of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Arizona
Principal Investigator: Dr. Christopher Y. Choi
Ist Year Award Amount: $178,717
Duration of Award: 3 years
Furrow and subsurface drip irrigation methods in the context of field and green house production will be evaluated to provide guidelines intended to minimize produce contamination by enteric pathogens. It is intended that the proposed research result in irrigation and pesticide practices that minimize produce contamination by enteric pathogens. Additionally, a predictive model for the persistence of enteric pathogens on produce and in soil under pre-harvest field conditions will be constructed. C. perfringens will be evaluated as an indicator of produce quality. Indicator/pathogen standards based on these efforts will be established for irrigation waters used for produce production.
|
Food Safety Initiative Staff E-mail: chall@cfsan.fda.gov |
Office Number: (202) 260-8920 · FAX (202) 260-9653 CFSAN Web site: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/ |
Hypertext updated by dav 2001-OCT-10