Vision: A world where everyone, everywhere is food secure
Stasiewicz Food Safety LaboratoryAbstract Share tables (ST) are tables or stations in school cafeterias where students can return unopened foods and beverages, providing an opportunity to access these items at no cost. Currently, research suggests that milk is among the most wasted items in breakfast and lunch programs in the United States. Share tables present a simple solution […]
Highlights Abstract Aggregative boot cover sampling may be a more representative, practical, and powerful method for preharvest produce soil testing than grab sampling because boot covers aggregate soil from larger areas. Our study tests if boot cover sampling results reflect quality and safety indicator organisms and community diversity of grab sampling. We collected soil samples […]
Highlights Abstract As of August 2023, the two U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official detection methods for C. cayetanensis are outlined in the FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) Chapters 19b (produce testing) and 19c (agricultural water testing). These newly developed detection methods have been shown to not always detect contamination when present at low levels. Yet, […]
Highlights Abstract Cronobacter is a hazard in Powdered Infant Formula (PIF) products that is hard to detect due to localized and low-level contamination. We adapted a previously published sampling simulation to PIF sampling and benchmarked industry-relevant sampling plans across different numbers of grabs, total sample mass, and sampling patterns. We evaluated performance to detect published Cronobacter contamination profiles […]
Highlights Abstract Maize is a staple food in Kenya. However, maize is prone to fungal infestation, which may result in production of harmful aflatoxins and fumonisins. Electron beam (eBeam) food processing is a proven post-harvest technology, but published literature is rare on the ability of eBeam to reduce mycotoxins in naturally contaminated maize samples. This study evaluated the efficacy of […]
Abstract Commercial leafy greens customers often require a negative preharvest pathogen test, typically by compositing 60 produce sample grabs of 150 to 375 g total mass from lots of various acreages. This study developed a preharvest sampling Monte Carlo simulation, validated it against literature and experimental trials, and used it to suggest improvements to sampling […]
Highlights Abstract Ready-to-eat meat products, such as deli ham, can support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes (LM), which can cause severe illness in immunocompromised individuals. The objectives of this study were to validate a miniature ham model (MHM) against the ham slice method and to screen antimicrobial combinations to control LM on ham by using response surface […]
Abstract The foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes causes the potentially lethal disease listeriosis. Within food-associated environments, L. monocytogenes can persist for long periods and increase the risk of contamination by continued presence in processing facilities or other food-associated environments. Most research on phenotyping of persistent L. monocytogenes’ has explored biofilm formation and sanitizer resistance, with less data examining persistent L. monocytogenes’ phenotypic […]
Abstract The foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes can persist in food-associated environments for long periods. To identify persistent strains, the subtyping method pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is being replaced by whole genome sequence (WGS)-based subtyping. It was hypothesized that analyzing specific mobile genetic elements, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Short Repeat) spacer arrays, extracted from […]