Research

The research identified antimicrobial treatments for reducing levels of Salmonella contamination on raw ground chicken used in the preparation of frozen, NRTE breaded chicken strips. Data demonstrated antimicrobial effectiveness, the effect on the subsequent thermal tolerance of Salmonella during partial cooking and the effect of freezing on Salmonella after partial cooking of raw, frozen, breaded chicken strips.

The objective of the proposed study was to determine whether interventions known for reducing Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination on beef trimmings were also effective against E. coli O157:H7, non-O157 STEC (O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145), and parent and derived Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Newport strains.

The overall objective is to validate effectiveness of antimicrobial compound treatments on inactivation of STEC and Salmonella (MDR versus non-MDR strains) inoculated fresh beef. AMIF recently funded ARS to conduct a similar study on the following non-O157 STEC: O26, O103, O111, and O145. This study completed the work by adding the other two non-O157 STEC from the CDC’s top six and include MDR and non-MDR Salmonella Typhimurium and Newport.

This research evaluated peroxyacetic acid, novel organic acids alone or in combination with a non-ionic surfactant on beef trimmings against E. coli O157:H7, O26, O103, O111, O121, O45, and O145 and Salmonella Typhimurium DT 104, Newport MDR-AmpC to achieve maximum ground beef product safety without altering product quality.

The project evaluated supplementation of cattle diets with Lactobacillus acidophilus NP51 to reduce Salmonella in lymph nodes at slaughter and concluded high doses of NP51 could be a viable intervention.

This white paper summarizes all epidemiological data on the relationships between food and non-food vehicles and vectors, and human illnesses caused by Salmonella published in the past 5 years; compares data published since 2008 with that presented in the 2009 white paper for AMIF on vehicles associated with human illness caused by Salmonella; describes surveillance strategies, regulations, and industry initiatives to control this pathogen; and identifies gaps in understanding of food attribution data and surveillance strategies for illness caused by Salmonella.

This study focused on developing new Appendix A style time-temperature tables for non-beef ready-to-eat products such as turkey deli-breast and boneless ham. Researchers also compared the baseline results from the original work that was conducted to develop Appendix A to the results of this study for Salmonella in roast beef and confirmed the validity of its effectiveness for pathogenic E. coli and L. monocytogenes strains.

The study developed methodology to allow the Rti-PCR reaction to detect low numbers (5 cells/g) of Salmonella in ground beef of 7, 15, and 27% fat.

This white paper defined multi-drug resistance as related to different bacterial pathogens; discusses sources of multi-drug resistance and how resistance genes are transmitted among different strains and different species of bacteria; identifies multi-drug resistant bacteria associated with different foods and food production animals; evaluates efficacy of interventions to prevent development of multidrug resistance and to prevent contamination of foods with multidrug resistant pathogens; and recommends risk mitigation strategies in a preventive food safety process management system.

Research determined the relationship between Salmonella contamination levels in bone marrow, neck skin, and spleen of turkey carcasses to that in ground product.