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National Programs
Food Safety, (animal and plant products)
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Executive Summary
National Program 108 Food Safety
2003 Annual Report
The overall goals of the ARS Food Safety Program (NP 108) remained the same, to seek to reduce to the greatest extent possible the incidence of food borne illness, and addresses the production, harvesting, processing, transportation, handling, and storage of food (the farm to table continuum) and emphasizes the prevention and/or control of food pathogens. NP 108 provides practical solutions for producers and works closely with their commodity organizations to prevent and eliminate food safety problems. NP 108 coordinates their research to meet the needs of the Federal action and regulatory agencies, in particular the USDA-Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the FDA-CFSAN.
The budget for NP 108 increased slightly to $95 M ($56.5 M preharvest/$38.5 M postharvest) due to new monies from Congress, and realignments within other national programs. The majority of total funds ($66 M) were applied to Pathogen Reduction research; with Mycotoxins $19 M, and both Residues and Poisonous Plants $5 M each.
Collaborative research programs were continued with the National Alliance for Food Safety to specifically address issues relative to Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Funded projects focused on: Dose response of Listeria monocytogenes in pregnant guinea pigs for use in risk assessment; Eliminating Listeria monocytogenes from ready-to-eat products; Transfer rates for Listeria monocytogenes during processing of ready-to-eat foods; Predictive models for thermal inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes in processed meat; Virulence mechanisms of Listeria monocytogenes in the gastrointestinal tract; Feed supplements to reduce Escherichia coli O157:H7 in feedlot cattle; and Functional genomics: Construction of microarrays for Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7"
The Second EU-US Food Safety Research Workshop, was held in December at the Federal National Conservation and Training Center (NCTC), Shepherdstown, WV under the auspices of the US-EC Task Force on Biotechnology Research.
Several NP108 workshops were conducted to convey research progress to customers and stakeholders including the Annual ARS-FSIS Research Program Planning Meeting held in Shepherstown, WV and the Annual ARS-CFSAN Research Program Planning Meeting held in Beltsville, MD. Meeings were also held with the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, the Pork Board and various national poultry organizations including the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation and the US Poultry and Egg Association.
Preharvest Program (Jane Robens NPL)
Highlights of ARS research progress and interaction include:
• Workshop in November, 2003 with the pork industries and university cooperators to determine how collaborative research could help to solve the problem of market swine exposure to Salmonella during lairage.
• Groundbreaking for the new Poisonous Plants Research Laboratory in Logan, Utah.
• Initiation of the Collaboration for Animal Health and Food Safety Epidemiology with the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Food Safety Inspection Service to enhance understanding of food safety pathogens, including their antimicrobial resistance in swine from production through slaughter. (P1S3N03)
• Initiation of residues studies with sodium chlorate to support its use as an interventions to prevent E. coli O157:H7 in market beef cattle. (P1S1N13)
• Progress in meeting regulatory requirements for use of a competitive exclusion product to prevent Salmonella infection during production of market swine. (P1S1N13)
• Examination of poultry production practices in Denmark and Sweden, in particular, their techniques for coping with very stringent restrictions on the use of antibiotics. (P1S2N08)
• Generation of EST libraries associated with production of aflatoxiin and fumonisin and through CRADAs with TIGR identified genes unique to fungal production of these mycotoxins which will form the basis of functional genomics studies. (P6S12N10)
• EPA approval was obtained for the biopesticide AF 36 to control aflatoxin in cottonseed. (P6S12N12)
• Determined the critical time periods both for the toxic lupines to produce high quantities of toxin and the period of greatest susceptibility of developing bovine fetuses. (P7S13N02)
Postharvest Program (James Lindsay NPL)
Highlights of ARS research progress and interactions include
• A joint ARS-IFR-FSA (Institute of Food Research-BBSRC-UK; UK Food Standards Agency Workshop was held in May in London, UK, to formalize the formation of Combase, a database for use in predictive microbial modeling. (P3S7N03)
• The Campycheck Project initiative continued, with a joint meeting in Bologna, Italy funded through DG-12, the European Commissions-Framework- 5. (P3S7N06)
• The collaborative research program TIGR was near completion providing a published annotated genomic sequence of Listeria monocytogenes. The sequencing and annotation of the four Campylobacter species neared completion. (P3S7N02/P3S7N06)
• Implicated beef hides as a major source of pathogens on carcasses, and developed a chemical dehairing intervention procedure to prevent contamination with E. coli O157. (P2S4N01)
• Commercially validated a low-cost, non-human intervention, on-line, automated system for broiler carcass inspection for diseases and defects, that can operate in the slaughter plant. (P2S5N01)
• Although significant amounts of water are retained by intact poultry carcasses, most is lost after the carcasses are cut and stored. This information will assist processors meeting the new FSIS labeling regulations. (P2S5N02)
• The defeathering process is a more important potential critical control point than the transport coop in the transmission of Campylobacter. (P2S5N04)
• Tenderness improvement after hydrodynamic pressure processing of beef cannot be used as an indicator of microbial pathogen reduction.. (P3S6N01)
• Develop the Vacuum/Steam/Vacuum (VSV) Surface Pasteurization concept into a commercially feasible intervention process for killing Listeria on the surface of hot-dogs. (P3S6N02)
• Determined radiation doses needed to reduce pathogen levels by 99.99% and inhibit post-irradiation pathogen growth on leafy produce without affecting product quality. (P3S6N04)
• A new, high-throughput, minimal-space/time/labor, low-cost, accurate and precise procedure to enumerate Campylobacter, E. coli, and Listeria was developed using a 96-well format. (P3S7N04)
• Developed a bacteriophage based intervention strategy to reduce foodborne human pathogens on fruits and vegetables. A national and international patent have been filed. (P4S8N01)
• Developed a rapid, immunological based method to detect Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 in spent irrigation water for use by the produce industry and regulatory agencies. (P4S8N02/P5S1N02)
• Acid and heat killing studies for microbial pathogens in acidified foods, after review by FDA formed the basis for new industry practice and process filings. (P4S8N03)
• Developed an approach to generate antibody-like proteins (scFv) from virus-infected bacteria, which allowed the production of a scFv highly specific only to pathogenic strains of Listeria monocytogenes. (P5S10N02)
• A rapid, highly specific, immunoassay was develop (support of FSIS) to detect residues of the veterinary drug ceftiofur in beef and pork kidney. (P5S10N03)
• In support of both FSIS and FDA a rapid, simple, quantitative and confirmatory method of analysis to differentiate between the beta-lactam antibiotics, ceftiofur and penicillin was developed using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS). (P5S11N01)
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