AMI Foundation Funds New Research to Enhance Meat and Poultry Safety

 

The AMI Foundation (AMIF) Board of Directors recently approved funding for seven new research projects that address a broad spectrum of food safety concerns.  The following projects were recommended for funding by the AMIF Research Advisory Committee.

Dr. Haley Oliver, Purdue University, will evaluate control strategies for retail delis which demonstrate high prevalence rates of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in the environment.  This research builds on results from an ongoing AMIF, Food Marketing Institute Foundation and USDA funded study.  The objectives of the research are to identify stores with potentially increased risk of high prevalence of Lm in the retail deli environment; implement practical and feasible control strategies to reduce Lm prevalence and cross-contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) meats handled at retail; and evaluate the efficacy of the control strategies through follow-up testing. This project is co-funded by the FMI Foundation.

A collaborative effort by researchers at Texas Tech University, led by Dr. Mindy Brashears, the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and Cargill Inc. will focus on mitigating Salmonella from lymph nodes in cattle.  Research will determine if supplementing cattle diets with Lactobacillus acidophilus NP51 will reduce Salmonella in lymph nodes at slaughter and evaluate whether lymph node contamination increases the risk of carcass and/or trim contamination.

Dr. Robert Levin at the University of Massachusetts will develop a methodology to allow real-time PCR detection of low levels of Salmonella in ground beef within four hours of enrichment.  The objectives will allow for near real-time monitoring of ground beef with respect to the efficacy of sanitary practices and to rapidly obtain documentation to ensure that product shipped complies with regulatory requirements.

Researchers at the USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center will seek to identify bovine reservoirs of pathogenic Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC)The overall goal of this project is to determine the prevalence, level, and types of non-O157 STEC in cattle from different production systems at harvest and determine if production system or regional variations in non-O157 STEC serogroups exist.

Dr. Martin Weidmann of Cornell University will prepare a white paper on the “seek and destroy” philosophy employed to control Lm in ready-to-eat meat and poultry processing plants.  The white paper will summarize the scientific data supporting the role environmental Lm contamination and persistence play as the predominant source of Lm contamination of RTE meat and poultry products; outline the “seek and destroy” philosophy; provide background on the development of the “seek and destroy” philosophy including scientific support; and examine Lm regulatory policy for all RTE foods and detail the positive and negative aspects of each federal agency’s approach.

Dr. Ellin Doyle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will prepare two white papers.  A review of the epidemiology of foodborne listeriosis will be conducted to determine potential transmission/contamination pathways and identify effective interventions to address these routes of contamination of RTE deli meats.  Future research needs will be determined by identifying gaps and weaknesses in food attribution data for listeriosis and approaches to further reduce human listeriosis cases and outbreaks.

 

A second Doyle white paper will focus on the sources of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) It will be prepared to evaluate the prevalence and trends in hospital-associated and community-associated CDI and the worldwide understanding of C. difficile infections and their sources.  Gaps in available data will be identified and the effects of these gaps on understanding of C. difficile epidemiology will lead to future research tasks needed to close these data gaps.