Through its annual mentorship program, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), with support from CDC, has awarded $356,000 to local health departments across the country to expand their wastewater monitoring efforts. Wastewater monitoring can be a useful tool for foodborne illness outbreak surveillance.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Dr. Edward Dudley, Director of the E. coli Reference Center and Professor of Food Science at Penn State University, about the potential for wastewater monitoring to aid foodborne pathogen surveillance and bolster foodborne illness reporting.
An EPA draft risk assessment suggests a risk to human health from the consumption of food grown on land fertilized by PFAS-contaminated biosolids. This risk only applies to certain “hot spots,” as the majority of food crops grown in the U.S. do not use biosolids as fertilizer.
Scientists have developed a new method for detecting fecal contamination in water using human viral DNA, which can help improve the safety of water sources while also allowing for microbial source tracking of contamination.
Researchers are pointing to the food safety and public health threat of microplastics in wastewater, which can serve as a vehicle for pathogenic biofilm communities and antibiotics, introducing these hazards to the environment and crops, and even contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Penn State University researchers have demonstrated the usefulness of wastewater monitoring for foodborne pathogen surveillance, after successfully isolating Salmonella from wastewater samples and linking them to clinical isolates from an existing foodborne illness outbreak.
Snack food and bakery facilities need to efficiently deliver water for sanitation and cleaning tasks, using just the right amount, while reusing what they can. They also often need to manage, treat and/or recover wastewater, maintaining peak sanitary standards and food safety, including proper placement of drains, to help save time and money.
