Sensing Technologies For The Detection and Characterization of Microbial, Chemical, and Biological Contaminants in Foods

Objective 1: Advance development and validation of on-line automated whole-surface inspection systems for simultaneous safety and quality inspection of fresh produce in high-throughput commercial processing operations. Objective 2: Develop and validate user-friendly analytical sensing methods and technologies for targeted and non-targeted rapid screening of foods for microbial, chemical, and biological contaminants in laboratory, field, and/or industrial environments. Objective 3: Advance development of portable spectral imaging technologies to allow identification and detection of food contaminants, and develop sampling and inspection protocols for implementation of the developed technologies in industry and regulatory applications. Objective 4: Advance development, test and validate an automated system for detecting contaminants in produce fields, and investigate cost and sensitivity trade-offs of different potential system components and configurations with regard to production of a cost-effective commercial system.