Performing Department
College of Vet Medicine
Non Technical Summary
The primary goal of this project is to identify potential sources and determine the movement of Salmonella, Shiga Toxin-Producing (STEC) Escherichia coli O157:H7 and non-O157:H7 STEC from animal operations to vegetable production systems that are in close proximity on sustainable diversified farming operations. The emergence and growth of the "Eat Local" and "Slow Food" movements have contributed directly to the growth of diversified farms which promotes rearing livestock and growing fresh produce within the same agricultural system. Sustainable farming systems operate under the premise of maximizing resource utilization and under this precept the use of all "resources", including those generated from animal operations to provide adequate nutrients to crops, could potentially increase the risk of produce contamination and foodborne illnesses. We intent to attain this goal by: a) conducting field studies in commercial diversified farms to determine the sources of these pathogens and study the impact of buffer distance on their transmission at the animal: fresh produce interface, and; b) piloting a controlled study on an agriculture research station that maintains livestock and fresh produce in their system to determine the impact of multiple farm variables including buffer zone distances, temporal factors, air and insect on transmission of pathogens between animals and fresh produce fields. The proposed study will identify the key sources, narrow the 'how-to' information gap, and help the produce industry to strategize control measures to improve food safety.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
1) Identify sources of Salmonella, STEC O157:H7 and non- O157:H7 STEC on diversified farms and determine the impact of buffer distance on their movement at the animal: fresh produce interface.2) Validate the outcome of first objective by conducting a controlled study to determine source and the movement of indicators and pathogens at the animal: produce interface on the Piedmont Agriculture Research Station reflective of a diversified enterprise.
Project Methods
Objective 1) Conduct a controlled study to determine the impact of buffer zone distances, temporal factors, air and insect on the movement of indicator (fecal coliforms, E. coli and Enterococcus sp.) and pathogenic (Salmonella, STEC O157:H7 and non- O157:H7 STEC) organisms at the animal: produce interface on the Piedmont Agriculture Research Station reflective of a diversified farming systems.Objective 2) Validate the outcome of the first objective by studying the movement of pathogenicmicroorganisms from known animal reservoirs and potential environmental sources into fresh produce field in commercial diversified farms.