Microbial Pathogens - Determining how to reduce microbial pathogens in food products, throughout food operations from farm to fork, is the most urgent food safety problem today. A major goal of this program is to develop tests that are precise, reliable, and rapid enough to detect contamination in all foods prior to their entering into commerce. Equally important is the development of effective, reliable, and cost-effective methods to control or eliminate pathogens in/on food producing animals throughout production and processing. Additional recently recognized pathogen problems to be addressed include: the presence of pathogens in fruits and vegetables, the presence and persistence of pathogens in animal waste, pathogen resistance to traditional processing techniques and to drugs, and the need for development of pathogen growth and survival models to support the risk assessment process.

Chemical Residues - The objectives of the chemical residue program are to reduce the risks of chemical residues from animal drugs, food additives, herbicides and pesticides and environmental contaminants that are potentially present in foods. A major goal is to develop reliable, effective, accurate, user-friendly, cost-effective residue detection methodology which requires minimal amounts of organic solvents to detect these residues. The program also increases knowledge of the adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion and toxicity of certain chemicals and environmental contaminants in food producing animals in order to gain the knowledge and the means to control their residues in foods.

Mycotoxins - The presence and potential for the presence of mycotoxins in crops is not only a direct food safety problem, but it threatens the competitiveness of United States agriculture in the world market. Major goals are to control aflatoxin in peanuts, corn, cottonseed, tree nuts and figs; fumonisins in corn; and deoxynivalenol in wheat and barley through an understanding of the biology of plant/fungus interactions and toxin production in the field. Specific approaches include combining altered agronomic practices, chemical and biological control, improving plant resistance to mycotoxins through both conventional plant breeding and transgenic approaches, and reducing insect damage leading to fungal infection. The program also develops methods to measure mycotoxins in important crops.

Toxic Plants - This program component seeks to minimize the exposure of animals and humans to natural toxins from poisonous plants. The research identifies toxic principles in plants to which animals might be exposed (from range or pasture), determines toxic manifestations of these plants in animals, and develops management strategies to reduce losses in livestock. This program also develops appropriate technology to control elevated cadmium in sunflower seeds and wheat that concern some foreign markets, and uses biotechnology to reduce the presence of solanaceous steroidal alkaloids in new varieties of potatoes.