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The objectives are:<ol>
<li> development of sensitive accurate and reproducible tests to detect viruses of food safety concern, with emphasis on aquaculture products such as shellfish; </li>
<li> development of assay tests that combine biological information about the virus with molecular biology and tissue culture techniques; </li>
<li> develop improved methods for virus extracttion from foods, that do not utilize banned extraction compounds such as freons;</li>
<li> transfer any methods developed to regulatory agencies.</li></ol>
Using both standard cultural and various recently developed rapid methods, the fate of various human pathogens and spoilage bacteria will be monitored in both the aquacultured fish product and in the water. The influence of different feeding regimes and reuse of the aquaculture water will also be studied for their influence on the microbiology of the final products. The behavior of bacteria such as Aeromonas hydrophila and Streptococcus iniae, which are both human and fish pathogens, will also be investigated.