Food Safety Interventions of Eggs and Produce with University of Puerto Rico

Four(4) students will be here during the summer; they will return to the University (during the fall, winter, and spring) they will be working jointly with us on developing a presentation for the 2016 Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting being held in Chicago (Summer 2016). These students will be returning to ERRC and we (ARS and these students) will be making the presentation together at the meeting. The main objective is to establish a long-term relationship for purposes of exploiting their complementary research, institutional development and capacity building skills to further their respective missions. Additional objective is to promote exchange of faculty and research staff including graduate students as visiting scholars; promote lectures, seminars and other educational activities in food safety. Specifically, to promote cooperation on basic and applied research on the following issues: a) Microbiological safety of sous-vide-style eggs; b) Biocontrol of Salmonella enterica on soybean seeds, soybean sprouts and tomatoes with antagonistic microbes; c) Use of chemical sanitizers to reduce microbial populations of produce.