Source: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND submitted to
DEVELOPMENT OF SENSING METHODS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR RAPID SCREENING OF FOODS FOR MICROBIAL, CHEMICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS
Sponsoring Institution
Agricultural Research Service/USDA
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
USDA COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0430500
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 1, 2016
Project End Date
Mar 31, 2021
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
(N/A)
BALTIMORE,MD 21201
Performing Department
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Non Technical Summary
(N/A)
Animal Health Component
30%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
30%
Developmental
40%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
7121430202050%
7127410202050%
Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
1430 - Greens and leafy vegetables; 7410 - General technology;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
The objective is to develop and validate user-friendly analytical sensing methods and technologies for targeted and non-targeted rapid screening of foods for microbial, chemical, and biological contaminants. The aim of the research is to design and develop prototypes of transportable devices that can scan large surface areas of foods for microbial, chemical, and biological contaminants with high throughput capacities suitable for use in commercial food processing facilities.
Project Methods
Deliberate profit-driven chemical contamination in dry food powders has become a major safety concern worldwide. The consequences of such incidents have included illness and death for humans, companion animals, and agricultural livestock animals. Such deliberate food contamination, as well as the possibility of accidental contamination of food ingredients, shows the need for rapid screening methods that can be used by food processors to effectively detect low level contamination in large amounts of food. There remains a need to develop screening methods suitable for large-scale use by the food industry. Several line-scan imaging technologies and methods will be evaluated to address detection of food contaminants and authentication of food ingredients for human consumption. The core sensing technologies that include macro scale line-scan Raman chemical imaging, gradient-temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging will be investigated.