Food Protection Trends - November 2010 - 693

the mission of NIFA includes advancing knowledge in agriculture, environment and human health and well being by supporting and funding research in those fields. It funds not only food safety research but also a broad range of agriculture development work in the field of climate change, renewable biofuels, human nutrition and food security. In food safety, emphasis was given to projects working to reduce/eliminate pathogens and toxic chemicals in the food chain. In 2010, the Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAD) was started, which will fund research for up to five years in the fields of STEC and foodborne viruses. In an example of Research Program Funded by NIFA. Understanding Foodborne Viruses: The Results of 15 Years of USDA CSREES Funding, Lee Ann Jaykus, Dept. of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, NCSU, Raleigh, NC, discussed the funding used on design and validation of methods to detect viral contamination in a variety of food matrices. Some of the findings were: Long term persistence of novo viruses in foods, ease of transfer of viruses from surface of foods, poor efficacy of alcohol-based hand sanitizer to control human novo viruses and conceptualization of viruses transmission in the food preparation environment. Current projects involve identification and control of microbial hazards in imported fresh fruits and vegetables, and foodborne novo viruses in elder care facilities. In an example of Education Program Funded by NIFA Development of Education Programs for Susceptible Populations and Their Caregivers, L. Medeiros, Dept. of Nutrition, Ohio State University, discussed a risk information seeking and processing model (more complex than Health Belief Model). This model can be used to teach consumers proper food safety practices, but there is no guarantee of behavior modification. Several developments of food safety Web pages, courses and focus group outcomes were discussed. Findings included the fact that participants preferred in-depth practical information and that people were most likely to go to their mother for food-related information. A key concern was not just training people but the sustainability of the training; in other words, the likelihood that participants will continually and consistently practice proper food safety behaviors after receiving training. In an example of Extension Program Funded by NIFA-Successful Extension Program, B. Gravani, Dept. of Food Science, Cornell University, discussed a study that was conducted, along with creation of a growers’ guide. This guide was a 28-page color booklet with specific recommendations, written in two languages—English and Spanish. Many growers did not feel comfortable teaching hygiene, nor did many of them view it as a part of their responsibility. During this presentation, a technique of curriculum was discussed with the purpose of appealing to various audiences. In particular, photo novels were used to educate farm workers about farm worker hygiene. In a survey, it was found this was a preferred and more effective method of delivery compared to traditional educational curriculum techniques that simply list facts/information.

S15 — Risk-based Design of Thermally Processed Foods — A Look into the Future Oscar Rodriguez and Anh Nguyen
Dr. Tim Jackson from Nestle North America (Glendale, CA, USA) opened the session with the talk “Risk Assessment Approaches to Setting Thermal Processes in Food Manufacturers.” The presentation was developed from outcomes of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe workshop under a similar title. From the workshop, it was agreed that there is a consensus in the food industry about what Safe Processing Standards are. They provide manufacturers with “a safe harbor” to produce microbiologically safe food, with the potential to improve quality and efficiency by milder treatments. The International Commission for Microbiological Safety of Food (ICMSF) conceptual equation was used to illustrate how better management of each parameter may lead to less conservative estimates of Performance Objective (PO) and Food Safety Objectives (FSO). Therefore, Dr. Jackson concluded that a combination of more process parameters and modeling facilitates obtaining process estimates. The next step would be education and training of industry and regulatory authorities in the use of risk-based approaches. Dr. Alejandro Amezquita from the Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre of Unilever (Bedford, UK) shared the company’s trial in using a risk-based approach for wet soup, in a speech titled “Practical Application of a Risk-based Approach for Reduction of Thermal Processes for Wet Soup Products.” The trial made use of the ICMSF conceptual equation, with a focus on spore inactivation, and took into account several variables, from microbiological quality of raw materials to practical conditions of the processing lines. By this approach, estimates from the model were much improved and thermal processing conditions of the soup products were decreased without compromising product safety. These positive results encourage the scaling-up study and pilot plant trials for wet soup products. The last talk, by Dr. Nathan Anderson of the Division of Food Processing Science and Technology (NCFST/FDA, Washington, D.C., USA), was “NCFST/FDA White Paper on FSO Application for Low-acid Canned Foods (an Alternative to the 12D Concept).” The driving forces behind this work have been consumers’ increasing demands for safe foods and development of novel processes. Dr. Anderson showed that it is possible to achieve new and microbiologically safe processes by looking more deeply into each term of the ICMSF equation. Therefore, this approach allows the comparison of different control measures to ensure commercial sterility; it is the basis that the authorities and industry can use to assess acceptability of existing and new processing techniques; and it establishes a roadmap for decision making.

S16 — Significance and Detection of STEC or Non-O157:H7 E. coli Laura K. Strawn and Ravirajsinh Jadeja
In a talk titled “The Epidemiology of Shiga Toxinproducing Escherichia coli as Human Pathogens,” Dr. Fratamico discussed the importance of shiga toxinproducing E. coli other than E. coli O157:H7 and the

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Food Protection Trends - November 2010

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