Welcome to the Foodborne Contaminants Research (FCR) Unit at the Western Regional Research Center (WRRC) of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Although there are many types of foodborne contaminants, our Unit studies human food poisoning diseases and the pathogens and toxins that can cause them.

Diseases associated with foodborne contaminants

Americans suffer from about 76 million cases of food poisoning each year, causing 5,000 deaths, and costing $7 billion in lost productivity. Food poisoning is often caused by bacteria such as E. coli, and it is often associated with inadvertent contamination of crops with manure. Our work focuses on reducing the transfer of bacteria from livestock manure to foods and to other animals. This includes research on the pathogen Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis, responsible for Johne's Disease in cattle and sheep. In addition to bacterial pathogens, we also study the infective prions that cause Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, aka "mad cow disease"). As with some bacterial diseases, TSEs affect livestock but can be transferred to humans via foods. In addition to strengthening food surveillance systems to detect natural or inadvertent contamination by bacteria and prions, our research also addresses the need to protect the US food supply from intentional adulteration of food with bacterial and plant toxins.

Our three main areas of research are:

Biothreat toxin detection

BSE ("mad cow disease") and other TSE diseases

Transfer of pathogens from animal waste to crops