NASEM has completed a study to better understand the nutritional benefits of seafood consumption versus the health hazards posed by contaminants like toxic heavy metals. The study fulfills a request from FDA, partly in a Closer to Zero effort to answer questions about mercury exposure. A webinar about the findings will be held on March 26, 2024.
Researchers recently demonstrated the inadequacy of an industry standard quality test—Laboratory Pasteurization Count—for raw, organic milk, as it cannot sufficiently differentiate between groups of bacteria.
Scientists from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are exploring how “transgenerational protection”—which is the ability of layer hens to pass along their resistance to Salmonella to their broiler chicks—can be encouraged, to ultimately reduce early colonization that introduces microbial contamination at the processing plant and poses a food safety risk to consumers.
Researchers have created a coating for galvanized steel food containers that repels bacteria and fungi, is mud-resistant, and reduces the risk of corrosion.
A recent study has identified factors that determine the susceptibility of different leafy greens to foodborne Escherichia coli, including storage temperatures, leaf roughness, and natural wax coating. The researchers also found that the juices of kale and collard leaves have a natural antimicrobial effect.
A study aims to determine how irrigation water that is treated to control microbial activity may affect pathogens on crop surfaces or soil, with the end goal of developing a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) for industry to gauge the reduction in microbial risk from treated water applied preharvest.
Funded by the Center for Produce Safety, a University of Georgia researcher is leveraging cutting-edge technology to improve the standard method for detection of viruses on foods, and then will use the method to study infectious norovirus persistence on berries.
A newly developed biosensor measuring hypoxanthine, a compound that is produced during the process of decomposition, is able to accurately and efficiently determine the freshness of meat.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is updating its estimate of the global burden of foodborne illness for 2025, and researchers are calling for the inclusion of Chagas disease, which has not been considered in past estimates.
