Source: The Regents of University of California submitted to NRP
IMPROVE FOOD SAFETY OF HYDROPONICALLY GROWN FRESH PRODUCE USING PHOTOCHEMICALLY TREATED RECYCLED WASTEWATER
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1027839
Grant No.
2022-67018-36278
Cumulative Award Amt.
$168,561.00
Proposal No.
2021-08175
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2022
Project End Date
Dec 31, 2023
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[A1332]- Food Safety and Defense
Recipient Organization
The Regents of University of California
200 University Office Building
Riverside,CA 92521
Performing Department
Chemical & Environmental Eng
Non Technical Summary
Thisproject aims to improve food safety of hydroponically grown fresh produce using recycled wastewater by developing a novel photochemical water treatment for pathogen inactivation and establishing a quantitative pathogen risk assessment framework. We will employ efficient photo-oxidants under ultraviolet light irradiation to inactivate pathogens in recycled wastewater including norovirus, and develop a pathogen transport model to quantitatively assess microbial risk and food safety grown in hydroponics systems.Water reuse in hydroponics systems offers a sustainable and new approach for urban farming but poses new challenges for food safety.Photochemical water treatment is an efficient water reuse technology advantageous in agriculture, and the proposed pathogen-plant transport modeling framework is a unique tool to minimize food safety risks. Combining these engineering and computational techniques will improve food safety. This project involves a combination of environmental, microbial and agricultural engineers at one University of California Extension Center and two Land Grant institutions in arid Southern California - the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and University of California, Irvine (UCI) - both being Hispanic-serving degree-granting institutions.This project will increase the overall potential of long-range improvement in and sustainability of U.S. agriculture and food systems.Food and agricultural systems are under the constraints of a growing population and pressure on water resources, challenges of climate variability and change.?
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
90%
Applied
10%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
5020210202070%
1021499110030%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 502 - New and Improved Food Products;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other; 0210 - Water resources;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 1100 - Bacteriology;
Goals / Objectives
This project aims to improve food safety of hydroponically grown fresh produce using recycled wastewater by developing a novel photochemical water treatment for pathogen inactivation and establishing a quantitative pathogen risk assessment framework. Water reuse in hydroponics systems offers a sustainable and new approach for urban farming but poses new challenges for food safety. Persulfate-based photochemical water treatment is an efficient water reuse technology advantageous in agriculture, and the proposed pathogen-plant transport modeling framework is a unique tool to minimize food safety risks. Combining these engineering and computational techniques will improve food safety.This projectwill enhance the PD's knowledge in pathogen control and microbial risk assessment, and it will generate exciting ideas on food safety improvement. The project directly addresses the goals of Foundational and Applied Science Program Area Priorities relating to food safety, nutrition and health, and natural resources and environment.
Project Methods
The project will:(1) Characterize the performance of UV photolysis of persulfate on the removal of foodborne pathogen from recycle wastewater for irrigation. (2) Establish a modeling framework to predict pathogen risks in hydroponically grown fresh produce and improve food safety. (3)Enhance the PD's knowledge in pathogen control and develop new expertise in food safety.The experimental investigation will utilize both conventional and cutting-edge analytical chemistry tools to examine the pathogen disinfection kinetics of the efficacy of different reactive radicals from persulfate photolysis for advanced water reuse treatment. Photolysis experiments will be conducted both in bench-scale photochemical reactors in quartz test tubes using a merry-go-round photochemical reactor (ACE Glass Inc.). A fixed-wavelength low-pressure UV lamp at 254 nm (typical in water treatment) will be placed in the center of the reactor to generate a range of radical species. Medium pressure UV bulbs (200-400 nm) will be considered as an alternative light source.Coliphage MS2 (ATCC 15597-B1) will be used as virus surrogate and propagated using E. coli. - 3000 (ATCC 15597) as host. Briefly, MS2 will be inoculated into 20 mL actively growingE. colihost suspension. The host-associated MS2 suspension was then centrifuged to remove the bacterial cells and debris. The concentration of MS2 in water samples was titrated by the double agar layer method. The development of pathogen transport model will be embodied in a system of ordinary differential equations that also incorporated plant growth, transpiration rate, viral attachment and detachment to culture media, viral decay, and plant barrier effects. Model parameters will be obtained both from the literature and through fitting the model to experimental data. In addition,virus filtration and recovery methodology will follow established standard procedures from existing literature.

Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The targeted audiences were:(1) gradaute students recruited for PhD to participate in this project; (2) the University of California Extension Center professionals who works in agricultural nutrient management via seminars and meetings; and (3) undergraduate students in environmental science and environmental engineering programs through curriculum development incorporating findings from this project. Changes/Problems:The submisison of the final technical report was delayed, due to the PI's parental leave during the Spring quarter 2024 from March to June. Actions has been taken by the awardee to minimize this in the future, inclusing setting frequent reminders and preparing draft final report earlier in anticipation of life events. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have trained two graduate students and one postdoc in Chemical and Environmental Engineering in the PD's home institution, and one graduate student and two undergraduate students in Civil and Environmental Engineering in the host's institution. The trainees held weekly meetings with the PI and co-PI to discuss project progress, career development guidance and mentorship. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have discussed our research findings with the University of California Extension Centers, which have direct partnerships with farms in California. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During this project period,a novel photochemical water treatment using different photooxidants was developedfor pathogen inactivation. We have conducted a series of pathogen inactivation experiments using E. coli bacteria and coliphage. Results have shown very promising trend of pathogen disinfection in the presence of different photooxidants, especially under short-wavelength UV in the presence of persulfate and chlorine as the photo-oxidants.This projectenhanced the PD's knowledge in pathogen control and microbial risk assessment, and it generated exciting ideas on food safety improvement that will become seeds for future regular proposal applications. The project directly addresses the goals of Foundational and Applied Science Program Area Priorities relating to food safety, nutrition and health, and natural resources and environment.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Azad, A.; Liu, H. Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Recycled Water for Edible Crop Irrigation: Understanding the Occurrence, Crop Uptake, and Water Quantity Effects. Agriculture Water Management, 2024. Under Review.


Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience will be graduate students at the university of California, USDA stakeholders, University of CaliforniaExtension Center specalists and farmer owners who are facing water scarcity and food safety issues. Changes/Problems:There is no major changes/problems in approaches. Due to COVID impact, we requested and got approved for a non-cost extension for one year on this project. The PD will continue to work on the project and have additional sabbatical visits to the host institution in summer 2023 to train students and lean new techniques. Students from both the home institution and the host institution are conducting explements together in a collaborative manner. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have trained two graduate students and one postdoc in Chemical and Environmental Engineering in the PD'shome institution, and one graduate student and two undergraduate students in Civil and Environmental Engineering in the host's institution. The trainees held weekly meetings with the PI and co-PI to discuss project progress, career development guidance and mentorship. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have discussed our research findings with the University of California Extension Centers, which have direct partnerships with farms in California. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue the research activities in conducting disinfection experiments involving different UV-based and non UV-based disinfection processes, and evaluate the inactivation kinetics on food borne pathogens and viruses. We will also develop a pathogen-plant transport modeling framework is a unique tool to minimize food safety risks. Combining these engineering and computational techniques will improve food safety.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During this project period,a novel photochemical water treatment using different photooxidants was developedfor pathogen inactivation. We have conducted a series of pathogen inactivation experiments using E. coli bacteria and coliphage. Results so far have shown very promising trend of pathogen disinfection in the presence of different photooxidants.This projectwill enhance the PD's knowledge in pathogen control and microbial risk assessment, and it will generate exciting ideas on food safety improvement. The project directly addresses the goals of Foundational and Applied Science Program Area Priorities relating to food safety, nutrition and health, and natural resources and environment.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Azad, A,; Liu, H. A Quantitative Modeling Framework to Predict Risks of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products to Edible Crops during Water Reuse for Agriculture. Submitted to Environmental Science & Technology, 2023.