To help growers mitigate food safety risks posed by wild birds, an ongoing study funded by the Center for Produce Safety is examining the prevalence of different species in agriculture and whether they carry and transmit foodborne pathogens. The end goal is to use the findings to develop a holistic food safety risk assessment for wild farmland birds, including a photographic guide to help growers identify birds and the potential food safety risks they may pose under different contexts.
The research is led by ecologist Daniel Karp, Ph.D., with the University of California, Davis. Microbiologist Jeffery McGarvey, Ph.D., of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA’s ARS) is taking the lead on the project’s molecular work.