Food Protection Trends - July/August 2024 - 312

Division at Fort Detrick, which was to become the world's
largest biological warfare research facility focused on the
potential military use of several highly pathogenic microbes
(Bacillus anthracis and C. botulinum). Fortunately, these were
not then, nor have they since been, used in global warfare.
Contributions by Dack and his colleagues resulted in the
development of biological safety cabinets whose design
remains similar to this day (Fig. 2) (5). Dack was highly
successful in protecting workers at Fort Detrick and received
an Exceptional Service Award (the highest civilian award)
from the U.S. Army for his wartime efforts. Upon decorating
Dack with this award (Fig. 3), General Waitt commented,
" Outside the Manhattan Project I know of no other place
where the dangers ... were equal to those at Ft. Detrick, MD.
Thanks to Dr. Dack's skill, dedication to duty, and untiring
efforts our personnel were spared any serious outbreak
of infection and suffered fewer accidents than any of our
instillations " (57). The work of microbiologists and other
scientists at Fort Detrick during World War II, and afterward,
is a fascinating topic with which many in the current era are
likely unfamiliar. For a captivating and detailed analysis of
Fort Detrick, and the involvement of prominent scientists
from the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere, refer to the
scholarly work of William Vogel (60).
4.2 ORIGIN OF THE FRI
Postwar society was changing, and Dack made several
noteworthy contributions in this period. Perhaps most importantly
from our perspective, he received encouragement
from the food industry to establish the FRI at the University
of Chicago in 1946, making it the first academic unit with
a focus on food safety in the United States. A one-sentence
note in the 1946 issue of the University of Chicago Magazine
(56) announced formation of the FRI by Dack. During that
time, there was also a Meat Institute within the Department
of Bacteriology and Parasitology at the University of Chicago.
We lack details regarding the arrangements between the
institute and the department in regard to space, financial resources,
and responsibilities. Several of Dack's early botulism
studies in the 1920s were funded by the National Canners
Association, presaging the later development of the FRI and
its efforts to address the food industry's concerns about botulism
and other food safety challenges.
5. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 1950-1959
Dack's work during the 1950s and 1960s had an increasing
emphasis on practical food safety questions, consistent
with the development of FRI (Fig. 4). During this time,
publications by Dack featured coauthors (e.g., Merlin
Bergdoll, Hiroshi Sugiyama, and Dean Cliver) who were
associated with and long an integral part of the institute.
Perhaps partly in response to his experiences during the
war effort, Dack was involved in various challenge studies
of canned food products. Challenge studies with canned
312 Food Protection Trends July/August
FIGURE 2. Research personnel working in a biosafety cabinet
at Fort Detrick (p. 22, Cutting Edge, A History of Fort Detrick
1943-1993, N. M. Covert).
FIGURE 3. Dack receiving the Exceptional Service Award
from General Waitt for his leadership of the Safety Division
at Fort Detrick (57).
bread (used by the military) indicated that bread was a
poor medium for toxin production (38) and confirmed
the importance of achieving pH 4.8 or lower and moisture
content of less than 36% to prevent the production of toxins
(61). A separate challenge study that assessed the survival
and potential growth of various foodborne bacterial
pathogens in dehydrated meat showed that temperature
and moisture levels were key factors in inhibiting bacterial
growth (44).
Nicholas Grecz found that Brevibacterium linens,
predominant in the surface microflora of Limburger cheese,
produced an inhibitory substance for C. botulinum when
grown on cheese or certain media and was partly responsible
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