Foodborne illness continues to pose a significant public well being problem within the U.S., sickening an estimated 48 million folks every year, in accordance to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At Texas A&M AgriLife Research, two scientists inside the Department of Food Science and Technology on the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, are creating complementary methods to scale back that danger by addressing how pathogens enter the meals provide and the way processors can eradicate them earlier than merchandise attain consumers.
Their work spans recent and fresh-cut produce, beef carcasses and processed meat merchandise, and the worldwide programs that join them.
Tracking pathogens from discipline to packing line
Alejandro “Alex” Castillo, Ph.D., who additionally has an appointment within the Department of Animal Science, research how pathogens resembling salmonella, E. coli and listeria contaminate meals by on a regular basis manufacturing and processing – not by intentional tampering, however by on a regular basis breakdowns in sanitation and dealing with.
“As soon as you start producing or processing foods, if you don’t follow specific procedures, you allow naturally present hazards to develop or remain in the food in a way that makes it to the consumer,” he stated.
Castillo’s research spans the U.S. and Latin America, the place a lot of the recent produce consumed within the U.S. is grown.
Avocados are a significant focus of his work. As many as 90% of the Hass avocados eaten within the U.S. are grown and packed in Mexico. That massive quantity creates alternatives however may enhance the chance of contamination getting into the availability chain.
In a current binational venture, Castillo and colleagues at the University of Guadalajara swabbed tools, flooring, partitions and storage areas in avocado packing vegetation to detect generic listeria species. These organisms function indicators of the place the pathogenic species, Listeria monocytogenes, may survive.
Each month, Castillo’s staff sequenced the DNA of isolates to decide whether or not they have been transient strains arriving from the sector or resident strains that had change into established within the facility.
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In one plant, the identical pressure appeared on surfaces, tools and utensils, and in a storage room, suggesting it had taken root and unfold by cleansing instruments and plant motion. The staff used these findings to suggest focused sanitation and procedural adjustments.
Castillo’s lab additionally checks intervention applied sciences designed to eradicate pathogens that survive routine sanitation. In partnership with a colleague who found pure antimicrobial compounds inside avocado tissues, his staff developed edible coatings that may scale back listeria on fruit surfaces.
“We have very good results, and we are continuing,” Castillo stated.
Looking forward, Castillo goals to proceed this work by enabling scientists to take a look at packing processes with industry-scale tools, discover safer alternate options to conventional brush programs, and consider real-world contamination situations.
Building security fashions for meat, poultry and rendering
Just a few buildings away, Matt Taylor, Ph.D., a professor of meals microbiology within the Department of Animal Science and a member of the graduate school within the Department of Food Science and Technology, focuses on serving to meat and poultry processors validate that their manufacturing steps successfully eradicate harmful pathogens.
His lab collaboratively develops mathematical and machine-learning fashions for merchandise resembling fermented and dried salami, which can not bear a traditional cooking step.
“There’s not really a well-known validated model out there that can determine the safety of these foods, especially when cooking is not employed in the food’s manufacture,” Taylor stated.
His staff is compiling current fashions, producing new knowledge on pathogen inactivation, and constructing a complete device that processors of all sizes can use to meet meals security necessities.
Taylor’s earlier work supported the rendering {industry}, which transforms inedible animal byproducts into supplies utilized in pet meals and fertilizers. By inoculating raw rendering materials with pathogens and monitoring their survival beneath completely different heating and holding circumstances, his staff helped the {industry} reveal compliance with FDA necessities for eliminating organic hazards.
Taylor additionally collaborates with Castillo and colleagues in horticultural and chemical engineering departments on produce-safety research. Their joint projects embody testing nano- and microencapsulated pure antimicrobials on leafy greens, melons and tomatoes, and evaluating instruments and tools in packing sheds to scale back contamination dangers.
With help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they work with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists and Extension specialists nationwide to assist growers and packers implement validated, science-based security practices. Together, Castillo and Taylor’s work displays a systems-level strategy to meals security, integrating microbiology, engineering, international provide chain consciousness, and rising applied sciences like machine studying to scale back danger earlier than meals reaches the desk.
