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ENGINEERING METHODS TO IMPROVE THE MICROBIAL SAFETY OF READY-TO-EAT FOOD PRODUCTS

Objective

This overall project is defined by a long-term mission, overarching research goals, and specific project objectives. The specific objectives map to the overarching goals, which encompass the foundational approaches to the problems, and the overarching goals map to the long-term mission, which articulates the unifying theme for all research described in this project.Long-term mission:To develop improved methods for the design, evaluation, and operation of processing systems that ensure the microbial safety of ready-to-eat food products.Overarching goals:Improve the quality and application of microbial models (inactivation, survival, growth, or transport) for enhancing the safety of ready-to-eat products.Develop, validate, and disseminate improved methods and tools for validation of food safety processes.Quantify the uncertainty associated with scale-up of microbial models from laboratory studies to pilot- and commercial-scale application.Specific objectives:Low-moisture foods:Develop and test improved pathogen thermal inactivation models for low-moisture foods, accounting for product and process factors during dynamic processes.Quantitatively evaluate current practices for development and application of thermal inactivation models for Salmonella in low-moisture foods and develop a framework for improved practices.Quantify factors affecting intrinsic errors associated with lab-, pilot-, and industry-scale thermal inactivation studies for Salmonella in low-moisture foods.Develop and test standard statistical tools for evaluating and utilizing non-pathogenic Salmonella surrogates in low-moisture process validations.Develop and test an economics- and risk-informed tool to support industry adoption of optimal food safety interventions at multiple points in the low-moisture food system. Meat and poultry:Identify critical limits (i.e., humidity, air velocity, surface time-temperature), relative to achieving target Salmonella lethality on the surface of impingement-cooked products.Develop and rigorously evaluate multiple candidate inactivation models for predicting surface lethality of Salmonella on multiple meat and poultry products.Develop and deploy a spreadsheet-based solution for industrial application of the optimal surface lethality model(s).Compare, validate, and demonstrate the utility and reliability of multiple process/oven humidity control and measurement options suitable for small/very small meat and poultry processors.

Investigators
Marks, Bradley; Bergholz, Te, M.; Ryser, Elliot; Dolan, KI; Jeong, Sanghyup
Institution
Michigan State University
Start date
2021
End date
2026
Project number
MICL02725
Accession number
1025498
Categories
Commodities