AGGREGATIVE SAMPLING FOR POWERFUL PREHARVEST LEAFY GREEN FOOD SAFETY TESTING

The overall objective of this proposal is to demonstrate and validate that aggregative swab sampling can be used for powerful preharvest leafy green food safety testing that will ultimately allow producers to better protect public health by identifying adulterating pathogens before they enter the food supply.Objective 1.Develop aggregative sampling for preharvest food safety testing and determine its power to detect bacterial hazards using inoculated field trials.Objective 2.Validate the power of aggregative sampling to detect bacterial foodborne pathogens by comparing to composite grab sampling in commercial fields with previous pathogen positive test results.