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The goals of this project are to improve the safety of milk produced from smallholder dairy farms in the emerging market of Kosovo using methodologies that can be adapted for use on farmstead dairy production and processing facilities in the United States. Improvement in milk safety will be achieved by developing assessment tools to identify risks related to current practices. A Kosovar U.S. collaborative research project between government officials, industry representatives, University of Prishtina and University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, and extension specialists will develop an assessment tool using data collected from this research. Best practices will be identified and applied to improve milk safety and public health both in Kosovo and in the United States. <P> This collaborative research project will internationalize U.S. faculty and extension agents by immersing them in the Kosovo dairy industry, thereby exposing them to a wide range of hazards and obstacles faced by dairy industries in emerging markets throughout the world. While in Kosovo, the U.S. team will work with processors, farmers, collection center personnel, extension agents, and veterinarians, learning about the entire milk production chain. <P> The objectives are to <OL> <LI> Conduct a risk assessment of milk quality at collection sites in Kosovo through collaborative field-based research with university, government, and extension specialists from the United States and Kosovo in order to identify current practices and create a comprehensive baseline measurement of the present state of milk quality at collection sites today. <LI> Develop, based on information collected during the first stage of the project, a preharvest food safety program that increases milk quality and enhances food safety, and deliver this program through trainings conducted by extension teams using a co-teaching model administered jointly by American and Kosovar faculty and extension agents. <LI> Use these research and training activities to develop a risk assessment tool for evaluating food safety risks associated with the collection and distribution of milk from small scale collection sites that can be used in Kosovo to improve the quality and safety of milk and adapted for use in the United States for evaluating milk quality and food safety risks in the burgeoning domestic farmstead dairy industry. </ol> Outputs: Resulting from this two-year collaborative research project, a robust risk assessment tool will be developed to assess potential threats to dairy product food safety. This tool will be published online and translated into multiple languages for use in the U.S., Kosovo, and in other countries. In addition, members of the U.S. team will attend the Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension (ANRE) Conference. At the ANRE conference, the Extension faculty who participated in the Kosovo project will facilitate sessions where they will share their international experiences, including what they learned about Kosovos culture, history and economy.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Significant strides have been made in identifying and minimizing risks associated with foodborne disease. However, in many parts of the world, including the United States, food safety remains a pressing issue. A key method available for improving food safety is the utilization of risk assessment tools. This projects goal is to improve the safety of milk produced from dairy farms in the emerging market of Kosovo using methodologies that can be adapted for use on farmstead dairies in the United States. Improvement in milk safety will be achieved by developing an assessment tool to identify risks related to current practices. A Kosovar-U.S.collaborative research project between individuals from government, industry, University of Prishtina, University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Extension will develop this tool using data collected. Best practices will be identified and applied to improve milk safety both in Kosovo and in the United States. This collaborative project will internationalize U.S. faculty and extension agents by immersing them in Kosovo dairy industry, thereby exposing them to a range of hazards faced by dairy industries in emerging markets worldwide.
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APPROACH: This proposal is for a two year project divided into four phases, which will begin after the establishment of a team of government, industry, university, and extension experts from the United States and Kosovo that will serve as the collaborative research team for the duration of the project. Once the international team has been formed, the first major phase of the project will begin. During phase one of the project, three major activities will take place. First, the U.S. team will travel to Kosovo to learn about the entire milk production chain. Second, a risk assessment workshop administered by a specialist for both the U.S. team and its Kosovar partners will be conducted on-site in Kosovo. And finally, an initial risk assessment tool will be drafted. Phase two of the project will require finalizing the risk assessment tool, identifying two clusters of milk collection centers each comprising four to five sites to be used to conduct risk assessments, and beginning the actual risk assessments in Kosovo. During this time various study personnel from Wisconsin will travel to Kosovo quarterly to work with Kosovo extension agents in conducting the risk assessments. While in Kosovo, the WI collaborators will provide training workshops for various in-country collaborators 1. Veterinarians measuring drug residue, 2. University researchers performing epidemiological research on dairy farms, 3. Extension agents evaluating the impacts through extension programming. An online database will be developed where data from the risk assessments can be input and thereby become available to partners in both the U.S. and Kosovo. Data from risk assessments will be used to identify current best practices as well as potential hazards. Phase three of the project involves the analysis of risk assessment data that has been collected to aid the development of food safety. During this phase, members of the Wisconsin team will travel to Kosovo and work with their in-country partners to develop appropriate intervention strategies. The interventions will be based on implementation of Hurdle Technology and will be applied to only one of the two clusters of milk collection centers, using the other cluster as the control site. Once the interventions have been developed, various U.S. extension agents and the consultant veterinarian will again travel to Kosovo at periodic intervals to help implement and monitor the interventions with the in-country team. The fourth and final phase of the project will involve assessing outcomes of interventions and modifying the risk assessment tool to use in the growing U.S. farmstead dairy industry. During this phase extension agents and the consultant veterinarian in the U.S. will implement the modified risk assessment tool on a set of domestic farmsteads in order to test the tools applicability across borders.