ENHANCING MICROBIAL FOOD SAFETY BY RISK ANALYSIS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1003047
• Project No.: FLA-FOS-005347
• Multistate No.: S-1056
• Project Start Date: May 13, 2014
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2017

Project Director
Schneider, KE, R.

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
G022 MCCARTY HALL
GAINESVILLE,FL 32611

Performing Department
Food Science and Human Nutrition

Non Technical Summary
Produce is a nutritious part of our daily food intake and an important economically for Florida and the US. Yet, foodborne illness outbreaks associated with produce has negatively impacted public health, consumer confidence and the industry's economic well-being. The produce industry has taken an active role in establishing handling standards to prevent pathogen contamination. However, due to lack of scientific data applicable to commercial handling conditions, some of the standards rely upon recommendations previously developed, but unsupported scientifically. Therefore, scientific studies to evaluate risk, pathogen contamination and intervention under realistic processing and commercial handling conditions are critical for developing handling practices to effectively reduce pathogen contamination.This program will focus on evaluating current pre and post-harvest handling practices and there impact on risk. Goals include defining operational limits, identifying cost-effective intervention strategies, and developing/optimizing sanitation systems. Project outcome will provide data for developing science-based guidelines to reduce food safety risks, and avoiding setting up costly regulations that may not necessarily advance food safety.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

80%

Developmental

10%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
712	4010	1100	100%

Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
4010 - Bacteria;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology;

Keywords

food safety

risk assessment

produce

Goals / Objectives
Risk Assessment: Assess food safety risks in agriculture systems Risk Management: Develop science-based interventions to prevent and mitigate food safety threats Risk Communication: Communicate food safety messages to stakeholders

Project Methods
Research: Will be funding through traditional extramural funding sources. All lab-based research will be conducted in accordance with all good laboratory practices. Research will undergo statistical review and ultimately be validated by publication in a peer review journal and/or presentation at a national scientific meeting.Teaching: Food safety will continue to be taught in courses such Food Safety and Sanitation and Current Issue in Food Safety. Students will be exposed to numerous aspects of the food safety field.Extension: Will be accomplished through traditional curriculum development and training workshops. More online opportunities will be posted as part of the university's push for more web content. Factsheet creation will continue, with internal review every three years to ensure content is still current. Periodic clientele survey/testing will be conducted to determine knowledge gained and implementation.

Progress 05/13/14 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience: Produce researchers and growers, Extension Agents, Extension Specialists, Researchers State/federalagencies, Government officials, Producers, Processors, Packers, Consultants, Buyers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Work from this program was disseminated at the IAFP National Conference. The abstracts for these talks are: 1. Sreedharan, A., Y. Li, K.R. Schneider. 2015. Determination of Minimum Sanitizer Levels to Prevent Salmonella Cross-contamination of Green Round Tomatoes in a Model Flume System. South East Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference, Savanna, GA. 2. Sreedharan, A., O. Tokarsky, S.A. Sargent, K.R. Schneider. 2014. Effect of Cooling methods, pH and Temperature on Salmonella Survival on Inoculated, Intact and Pureed Strawberries and Pureed Tomatoes. International Association of Food Protection, Indianapolis, IN, 2014. 3. Gereffi, S. and K.R. Schneider. 2014. Control of Salmonella Cross-Contamination between Green, Round Tomatoes in a Model Flume System. International Association of Food Protection, Indianapolis, IN. 4. Chapin, T., G. Mootian, R. McEgan, S. Reddy, L. Friedrich, J. Chandler, L. Goodridge, M. Danyluk, K.R. Schneider, D. Schaffner. 2014. Isolation and characterization of Salmonella from North Florida surface waters. International Association of Food Protection, Indianapolis, IN. 5. Sreedharan, A., Tokarskyy, O., Sargent, S. A., Schneider, K.R. 2014. Effect of Sanitizers on the Survival of Lactobacillus plantarum and Salmonella spp. on Surface-inoculated, Hydrocooled Strawberries. American Society of Horticultural Sciences (ASHS) Annual Conference, Orlando, FL. 6. Sreedharan, A., Tokarskyy, O., Schneider, K., Sargent, S. 2014. Survival of Salmonella spp. on Surface-inoculated Forced air-cooled and Hydrocooled Intact Strawberries, and in Strawberry Puree. South East Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference, Savanna, GA. 7. Sreedharan, A., Y. Li, R. Silverberg, A. Gutierrez and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Prevention of Salmonella cross-contamination between green round tomatoes in a laboratory flume system. International Association of Food Protection, Annual Conference, Portland, OR. July 25-28. 8. Y. Li, Sreedharan, A. and K.R. Schneider. 2015. A microbial investigation of Florida tomato packinghouse processing efficacy. International Association of Food Protection, Annual Conference, Portland, OR. July 25-28. 9. Cekic, S., M.D. Danyluk and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Persistence of E. coli and total coliforms in manure and manure amended soil. Institute of Food Technologists. Chicago, IL. July 11-14. 10. Underthun, K., M.D. Danyluk, K.R. Schneider. 2015. Persistence of Salmonella an E. coli in Florida soils at various volumetric water contents. Institute of Food Technologists. Chicago, IL. July 11-14. 11. Sreedharan, A., Y. Li, K.R. Schneider. 2015. Determination of Minimum Sanitizer Levels to Prevent Salmonella Cross-contamination of Green Round Tomatoes in a Model Flume System. Florida State Hort Society, Orlando, FL. May 31 - June 2. 12. Sreedharan, A., Y. Li, R. Silverberg, A. Gutierrez, and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Prevention of Salmonella cross-contamination between green round tomatoes in a model flume system. Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, University of Florida IFAS, Gainesville, FL. 13. Schneider, K.R., J. De, A. Sreedharan, Y. Li, S.A. Sargent. Evaluation of temperature management on the microbial quality control of Florida blueberries. IAFP annual meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA. July 31- August 03, 2016. 14. De, J., A. Gutierrez, M. Jubair, K.R. Schneider. Microbial evaluation of pre- and post-processed tomatoes from Florida packinghouses. IAFP annual meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA. July 31- August 03, 2016. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Theresearch in this program focused on produce safety, though we achieved ourgoals in conducting applying food safety science for the benefit of stakeholders. All graduatestudents who workedon pathogen survival and pathogen intervention have successfully graduated. Currently, I am a co-PI on an FDACS training grant, Co-PI on a USDA training grant, Co-PI on several other research grants from USDA. We have publishedseveral peer-reviewed publicationsfrom 2014-2017,with two more submitted and pending. In total, our laboratory worked on 6 active grants in 2016;collaborating with several partner institutions and numerous other departments within this institution. All reported publications addressed one of the three major goals of this project.

Publications

• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Bartz, J.A., M.K. Fatica and K.R. Schneider. 2016. Sanitation in Fresh-cut and Vegetable. In: Postharvest Pathology of Fruits and Vegetables (Eds. J. Adaskaveg and D. Prusky). American Phytopathological Society.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schneider, K.R., De, J., Li, Y., Sreedharan, A., Goodrich Schneider, R., Danyluk, M.D., Pahl, D.M, Walsh, C.S., Todd- Searle, J., Schaffner, D.W., Kline, W. and Buchanan, R.L. 2017. Microbial evaluation of pre- and post-processed tomatoes from Florida, New Jersey and Maryland packinghouses. Food Control. 73:511-517.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sreedharan, A., Li, Y., De, J., Gutierrez, A., Silverberg, R. and Schneider, K.R. 2017. Determination of Optimum Sanitizer Levels for Prevention of Salmonella Cross-contamination of Mature Round Tomatoes in a Laboratory Model Flume System. Food Control.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: �eki�, S.K., J. De, M. Jubair and K.R. Schneider. 2017. Persistence of Indigenous Escherichia coli in Manure and Manure-Amended Soil. Food Control.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gereffi, S., A. Sreedharan and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Control of Salmonella Cross-contamination between Green, Round Tomatoes in a Model Flume System. J. Food Protect. 78(7):1280-1287. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-524
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Bartz, J.A., H-G. Yuk, M.J. Mahovic, B.R. Warren, A. Sreedharan and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Internalization of Salmonella enterica by tomato fruit. Food Control. 55(9):141150.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tokarskyy, O., K.R. Schneider, A. Berry, S.A. Sargent, and A. Sreedharan. 2015. Sanitizer applicability in a laboratorymodel strawberry hydrocooling system. Postharv Biol and Technol. 101:103-106.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Sreedharan, A., O. Tokarskyy, S.A. Sargent and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Survival of Salmonella spp. on surface-inoculated forced-air cooled and hydrocooled intact strawberries, and in strawberry puree. Food Control. 51(5):244250.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Balaguero, A.N., A. Sreedharan, and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Effect of Overhead Spray and Brush Roller Treatment on the Survival of Pectobacterium and Salmonella on Tomato Surfaces. J. Food Protect. 78(1):51-56. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-254
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Sreedharan, A., K.R. Schneider and M.D. Danyluk. 2014. Salmonella Transfer Potential onto Tomatoes During Laboratory-simulated In-field Debris Removal. J. Food Protect. 77(7):1062-1068. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-13-509.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhou, B., L. Yaguang, E. Turner, Q. Wang and K.R. Schneider. 2014. Evaluation of Current Industry Practices for Maintaining Tomato Dump Tank Quality During Packinghouse Operation. J. of Food Process Pres. 37(7). doi:10.1111/jfpp.12200.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Produce researchers and growers, Extension Agents, Extension Specialists, Researchers State/federalagencies, Government officials, Producers, Processors, Packers, Consultants, Buyers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Work from this program was disseminated at the IAFP National Conference. The abstracts for these talks are: 1. Schneider, K.R., J. De, A. Sreedharan, Y. Li, S.A. Sargent. Evaluation of temperature management on the microbial quality control of Florida blueberries. IAFP annual meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA. July 31- August 03, 2016. 2. De, J., A. Gutierrez, M. Jubair, K.R. Schneider. Microbial evaluation of pre- and post-processed tomatoes from Florida packinghouses. IAFP annual meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA. July 31- August 03, 2016. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the final year of the project. The final report will capture all activity from 2014-2016.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Risk Assessment: Assess food safety risks in agricultural systems My research continues to focus on produce safety. Currently, I am a CoPI on a multi-institutional USDA SCRI grants, a CPS grant, and several othertraining and safety grants. My laboratory had one peer-reviewed publication and one chapter on produce safety. Additionally, several more manuscriptshave been submitted, but not were not yet accepted as of the end of the year. We anticipate 6 more publications in 2017. 2) Risk Management: Develop science-based interventions to prevent and mitigate food safety threats The current projects working on in the area of pathogen survival under various environmental conditions in manure amended fields. Also, the impact of washing produce compared to field-packed/unwashed; and the effects of hydrocooling on traditionally unwashed produce (e.g., blueberries, peaches, and sweetcorn). 3) Risk Communication: communicate food safety messages to stakeholders In the past, the majority of our communication efforts focus on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Since the fall of 2016, our group has started training the Produce Safety Rule and the Preventive Controls for Human Food training curriculum. These workshops have reached a substantial portion of the Florida produce industry. In 2016 we conducted two Juice HACCP, three Packinghouse HACCP, six PSA and six FSPCA trainings throughout the state of Florida.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schneider, K.R., De, J., Li, Y., Sreedharan, A., Goodrich Schneider, R., Danyluk, M.D., Pahl, D.M, Walsh, C.S., Todd-Searle, J., Schaffner, D.W., Kline, W. and Buchanan, R.L. 2017. Microbial evaluation of pre- and post-processed tomatoes from Florida, New Jersey and Maryland packinghouses. Food Control. 73:511-517.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sreedharan, A., Li, Y., De, J., Gutierrez, A., Silverberg, R. and Schneider, K.R. 2017. Determination of Optimum Sanitizer Levels for Prevention of Salmonella Cross-contamination of Mature Round Tomatoes in a Laboratory Model Flume System. Food Control.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2107 Citation: �eki�, S.K., J. De, M. Jubair and K.R. Schneider. 2017. Persistence of Indigenous Escherichia coli in Manure and Manure-Amended Soil. Food Control.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Produce researchers and growers, Extension Agents, Extension Specialists, Researchers State/federal agencies,Government officials, Producers, Processors, Packers, Consultants, Buyers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Work from this program was disseminated at the IAFP National Conference. The abstracts for these talks are: 1.Schneider, K.R., J. De, A. Sreedharan, Y. Li, S.A. Sargent. Evaluation of temperature management on the microbial quality control of Florida blueberries. IAFP annual meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA. July 31- August 03, 2016. 2.De, J., A. Gutierrez, M. Jubair, K.R. Schneider. Microbial evaluation of pre- and post-processed tomatoes from Florida packinghouses. IAFP annual meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA. July 31- August 03, 2016. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue the line of research which includes seeking additional extramuralfunding, conducting research, and the preparation and publishing of research.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The research in this program continues to focus on produce safety, though we have branched out. The currentgraduate students areworking on pathogen survival in organic soil amendments. Currently, I am a PI on an FDACS training grant, Co-PI on a USDA training grant, Co-PI on several other research grants fromUSDA. We had several peer-reviewed publications accepted in 2016, with two more submitted and pending. In total, our laboratory worked on 6 active grants in 2016; collaborating with several partner institutions and numerous other departments within this institution.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: 4. Schneider, K.R., De, J., Li, Y., Sreedharan, A., Goodrich Schneider, R., Danyluk, M.D., Pahl, D.M, Walsh, C.S., Todd-Searle, J., Schaffner, D.W., Kline, W. and Buchanan, R.L. 2017. Microbial evaluation of pre- and post-processed tomatoes from Florida, New Jersey and Maryland packinghouses. Food Control. 73:511-517.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sreedharan, A., Li, Y., De, J., Gutierrez, A., Silverberg, R. and Schneider, K.R. 2017. Determination of Optimum Sanitizer Levels for Prevention of Salmonella Cross-contamination of Mature Round Tomatoes in a Laboratory Model Flume System. Food Control (submitted).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: �eki�, S.K., J. De, M. Jubair and K.R. Schneider. 2017. Persistence of Indigenous Escherichia coli in Manure and Manure-Amended Soil. Food Control.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Bartz, J.A., M.K. Fatica and K.R. Schneider. 2016. Sanitation in Fresh-cut and Vegetable. In: Postharvest Pathology of Fruits and Vegetables (Eds. J. Adaskaveg and D. Prusky). American Phytopathological Society.

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Produce researchers and growers,Extension Agents, Extension Specialists, Researchers State/federal agencies, Government officials, Producers, Processors, Packers, Consultants, Buyers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This work was presented at regional and national professional meetings, giving the participant involved a chance to share and discuss this work with colleagues at other academic institutions as well as government regulators. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?One-on-one activities on farms and packinghouse to offer advice and suggestions on food safety practices. Group learning workshops to convey materials to stakeholders, including target audiences. In-service trainings to train other educators and future trainers What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Research and outreach plans will continue the work presented in this report.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This reporting period's objective can be broken down into the following: Prevention ofSalmonellacross-contamination between green round tomatoes in a laboratory flume system, including a microbial investigation of Florida tomato packinghouse processing efficacy; determining the persistence ofE. coliand total coliforms in manure and manure amended soil; and examining the persistence ofSalmonellaanE. coliin Florida soils at various volumetric water contents. In the first objective the specific research objective of this study is to determine the ability of a 3-serovarEscherichia colicocktail and a 5-serovarSalmonellacocktail to persist in Candler sand and Orangeburg sandy loam at low, medium and saturated volumetric water contents at both 20 and 30°C. The experimentalSalmonellaserovars included Anatum, Javiana, Braenderup,Newport andMontevideo.E. coliserovars utilizedin this objectivewere O157:H7,O104:H4 and O145; all were resistant to 200 ppm rifampcin. In addition, serotyping at each sampling date was performed to reveal which serovars remain present at each time point. The results have the potential to structure the proposed produce safety law under FSMA; particularly the length in time necessary to wait between applications of untreated biological soil amendments and crop harvesting. Soils were dried in a biological safety hood and passed through a 2 mm sieve prior to inoculation. Inoculum was prepared by adding 10 mL of suspended culture to desired amount of 100% Zephyrhills spring water. The inoculum was then added to 1000 g dried soil in plastic Whirlpak bags and manually shaken for even inoculum distribution. All microcosms had initial target pathogen concentrations at 107CFU/ g soil. On each sampling date 10 g of soil was added to 90 mL 0.1% peptone water (PW), stomached for 1 min and serially diluted in 0.1% PW tubes and plated on TSA + 80 ppm rifampicin to determine target pathogen concentrations. The results showed an absence ofE. coliby month 3 and absence ofSalmonellaby month 6 in Candler sand during storage at 30°C. In Orangeburg sandy loam absence ofE. coliandSalmonellahave occurred by month 6 during storage at 30°C. Absence of target pathogens in microcosms held at 20°C has not yet been reached but current results indicate better survival of these microorganisms at the cooler temperature. In field trials for this objective, two fields in central and north Florida were amended with dairy bovine manure at three rates; heavy, medium (agronomic) and light with an additional control plot with no manure. Ten-gram samples were taken at each sampling time and diluted with PBS and plated on ECC Chromagar. Enrichments were performed when necessary according to FDAE. colienrichment guidelines. PCR was used to confirm negative enrichments. Microcosms were prepared similarly at one rate for each location and stored at 20?C and 30?C and sampled similarly.Both fields prepared in May '14 wereE. colinegative after 140 days. The 30?C microcosms wereE. colinegative after 240 days. For our second objective, weevaluated the minimum concentration of HOCl required to prevent cross-contamination of uninoculated tomatoes bySalmonella-inoculated tomatoes under clean and organic loading conditions. For this study we used unwashed greenround tomatoes inoculated with rifampicin (rif) resistantSalmonella(9 log CFU/tomato) were introduced into a recirculating waterbath along with uninoculated tomatoes. Tomatoes in the wash water were exposed to different HOCl (25, 50, 75, 100 ppm) and organic loading (0, 500 COD) levels for 0, 30, 60, 120 s. At each time point, three inoculated and three uninoculated tomatoes were placed in separate Stomacher bags containing buffered peptone water and0.1%Na2S2O3forSalmonellaenumeration. If levels were below the detection limit (<2 log CFU/tomato), tomatoes were enriched in tryptic soy both (+rif) at 37°C for 48 h. Each experiment was performed in triplicate (n=9). The results of this study showed that in the absence of HOCl,Salmonellawas recovered in both the wash water (≥3.5 CFU/ml) and uninoculated tomatoes (≥4.5 CFU/tomato). Presence of HOCl in the wash water reducedSalmonellalevels on uninoculated tomatoes to below the detection limit (<2 log CFU/tomato). Enrichment revealed the presence ofSalmonellaon uninoculated tomatoes exposed to 0, 25 and 50 ppm HOCl, but not on those treated with 75 or 100 ppm HOCl. The level of 75 ppm HOCl also prevented cross-contamination of uninoculated tomatoes under moderate organic loading (500 ppm COD). These results suggest that 75 ppm HOCl may be sufficient to controlSalmonellacross-contamination in a model flume system, at moderate organic loading conditions.The ability of packers to use less sanitizer could reduce associated chemical and disposal costs. In the last objective, the lab investigated the bacterial levels on tomatoes by testing field fruit before and after processing. For this study, green, round tomatoes were sampled from five different packinghouses in Florida from Feb. 2013 until Dec. 2014, with the data being analyzed the first quarter of 2015. At each sampling period 20 composite samples of 5 tomatoes were collected from field bins (pre-processing) and 20 composite samples of 5 after washing (post-processing). Samples were transported on ice and screened via traditional culture methods and molecular techniques for total aerobic mesophiles, total coliforms, and genericEscherichia coliwithin 24 h. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used to compare results before and after processing, seasons and year. The five packinghouses across Florida were sampled 18 times during a two-year span. The packinghouse processing significantly reduced (P<0.0001) total aerobic mesophiles on tomatoes (n=360) when comparing with the unwashed field tomatoes (n=360). Tomatoes collected in 2014 (n=320) had significantly higher (P=0.0002) total aerobic mesophiles than 2013 samples (n=400). When categorizing harvested tomatoes in spring (n=320), summer (n=120), fall (n=160) and winter (n=120), summer tomatoes had significantly higher (P<0.0001) total aerobic mesophiles and total coliforms than other seasons.E. colilevels were below the detection limit of 1.9 log CFU/tomato in 701 out of 720 samples collected.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gereffi, S., A. Sreedharan and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Control of Salmonella Cross-contamination between Green, Round Tomatoes in a Model Flume System. J. Food Protect. 78(7):1280-1287. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-524 Bartz, J.A., H-G. Yuk, M.J. Mahovic, B.R. Warren, A. Sreedharan and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Internalization of Salmonella enterica by tomato fruit. Food Control. 55(9):141150. Tokarskyy, O., K.R. Schneider, A. Berry, S.A. Sargent, and A. Sreedharan. 2015. Sanitizer applicability in a laboratory model strawberry hydrocooling system. Postharv Biol and Technol. 101:103-106. Sreedharan, A., O. Tokarskyy, S.A. Sargent and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Survival of Salmonella spp. on surface-inoculated forced-air cooled and hydrocooled intact strawberries, and in strawberry puree. Food Control. 51(5):244250. Balaguero, A.N., A. Sreedharan, and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Effect of Overhead Spray and Brush Roller Treatment on the Survival of Pectobacterium and Salmonella on Tomato Surfaces. J. Food Protect. 78(1):51-56. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-254 Sreedharan, A., K.R. Schneider and M.D. Danyluk. 2014. Salmonella Transfer Potential onto Tomatoes During Laboratory-simulated In-field Debris Removal. J. Food Protect. 77(7):1062-1068. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-13-509. Zhou, B., L. Yaguang, E. Turner, Q. Wang and K.R. Schneider. 2014. Evaluation of Current Industry Practices for Maintaining Tomato Dump Tank Quality During Packinghouse Operation. J. of Food Process Pres. 37(7). doi:10.1111/jfpp.12200.

Progress 05/13/14 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for our program are produce farmers and packers in the state of Florida and in other parts of the country. The initial focus was the Florida tomato industry and the Florida citrus juice industries. Over time, through collaborative efforts with other land grant institutions, we've have conducted research on numerous commodities. Changes/Problems:The major hurdles faces are lack of qualified individuals to conduct training workshops. We have only three instructors who have been trained and have the time necessary to meet the needs of the entire state. Additionally, these individuals are being asked to help training in other states, further diluting our efforts. The other hurdle is the Produce Safety Rule training has been delayed until the Fall of 2016. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The major of our trainingeffort focused on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and both Packinghouse and Juice HACCP. Our past program, the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) training program, while still relevant, is slowly being supplanted by the Produce Safety Rule and Preventive Controls training efforts. In 2015, we conducted and/or participated in 22 workshops on GAPs, HACCP and numerous others workshops on various food safety topics. These meetings reached a substantial portion of the Florida produce industry with specific emphasis on tomatoes. In 2015 we conducted four Packinghouse and two juice HACCP training courses. These programs remain nationally and international recognized. The Juice HACCP program serves approximately 75-80% of the juice industry in the US and is only one of a small handful in the country that continues to conduct training. Our Packinghouse HACCP course is the only International HACCP Alliance recognized course of its kind. This program with eventually be replaced by our planned FSMA training efforts, but has served to assist Florida packers meet national and international standard. I also as a committee member is the annual International Citrus and Beverage Conference. This is one of the largest annual conferences hosted by IFAS. In addition to serving as an organizer, I give a lecture on microbiology at this year's meeting. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are planning to refoucs our efforts on training farmers and packers on the new requirements for the Food Safety Moderization Act. The first of these programs with focus on Preventive Controls for Human Food training, starting in the spring of 2016, followed by Produce Safety Rule training begining in the Fall of 2016. We have over 20 such training events tentatively scheduled.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The research goals continueto focus on produce safety, though we have branched out. Ourlast two graduate students have worked on pathogen survival in organic soil amendments. Currently, we are focusing on finishing up amulti-institutional USDA SCRI grants, a CPS grant, and several other training and safety grants. We had six peer-reviewed publications, with a major focus on produce safety. In total, our laboratory worked on 6 active grants collaborating with several partner institutions and numerous other departments within UF.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Wood, M.V., A. Sreedharan, R. Silverberg, A.N. Balaguero and K.R. Schneider. 2015. The Effects of Heat Shock on the D-Values of Listeria monocytogenes on Selected Seafood Matrices. Advances in Microbio. 5(8):580-585. doi: 10.4236/aim.2015.58060). Gereffi, S., A. Sreedharan and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Control of Salmonella Cross-contamination between Green, Round Tomatoes in a Model Flume System. . J. Food Protect. 78(7):1280-1287. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-524. Bartz, J.A., H-G. Yuk, M.J. Mahovic, B.R. Warren, A. Sreedharan and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Internalization of Salmonella enterica by tomato fruit. Food Control. 55(9):141150. Tokarskyy, O., K.R. Schneider, A. Berry, S.A. Sargent, and A. Sreedharan. 2015. Sanitizer applicability in a laboratory model strawberry hydrocooling system. Postharv Biol and Technol. 101:103-106. Sreedharan, A., O. Tokarskyy, S.A. Sargent and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Survival of Salmonella spp. on surface-inoculated forced-air cooled and hydrocooled intact strawberries, and in strawberry puree. Food Control. 51(5):244250. Balaguero, A.N., A. Sreedharan, and K.R. Schneider. 2015. Effect of Overhead Spray and Brush Roller Treatment on the Survival of Pectobacterium and Salmonella on Tomato Surfaces. J. Food Protect. 78(1):51-56. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-254.