Professor, Meat Science
Project: Microbial Food Safety.
The use of raw or improperly composted manure by small farms is a common practice that may result in contamination of produce with foodborne pathogens originated from livestock intestinal reservoirs. Additionally, a contributing factor to the dissemination of pathogen-contaminated food crops is the opportunity for harvest equipment and tools to facilitate pathogen attachment and subsequent cross-contamination of previously non-contaminated fruits, vegetables. The risk for the acquisition of foodborne illness is higher with fresh produce consumed raw or after minimal processing versus items subjected to further processing. This position will focus on identification of microbial communities and survival and persistence of naturally occurring foodborne pathogens in soils amended by manure-based biological soil amendments and on produce grown in such soils using current practices that are typical of small-scale growers of fresh produce.