Source: WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
ESTABLISHING A SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM TO ENHANCE UNDERGRADUATE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF FOOD MICROBIAL SAFETY THROUGH RESEARCH AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1021666
Grant No.
2020-68018-30657
Cumulative Award Amt.
$398,997.00
Proposal No.
2019-05064
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 1, 2020
Project End Date
Mar 31, 2026
Grant Year
2020
Program Code
[A7401]- Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates
Recipient Organization
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
886 CHESTNUT RIDGE RD RM 202
MORGANTOWN,WV 26505-2742
Performing Department
Davis College of Agriculture
Non Technical Summary
The overall goal of this project is to establish a summer undergraduate internship program on food microbial safety through research and extension/outreach activities in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design at West Virginia University and collaborated with WV Small Farm Center and Preston County Workshop Inc., Reedsville, WV (industry collaborator). The objectives of the project are to 1) Recruit a diverse population of undergraduate students for the summer internship; 2) Mentor undergraduate research and extension projects on improving microbial safety of locally processed foods in West Virginia; 3) Evaluate student stress management and learning outcomes during and beyond the project period. We will recruit 8 motivated undergraduate students with 4 mentors (PDs team) during the 8 week summer time to complete the following three projects 1) Isolation and identification of the presence of Salmonella and Listeria on food products sold at WV Farmers' Markets; 2) Evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of electrostatic spray with commercial antimicrobials to inactivate Salmonella and L. monocytogenes on local produce; 3) Evaluate the thermal inactivation of Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni by double pan-broiling in moisture enhanced non-intact chicken patties. The stress management and learning outcomes of summer internship students during and beyond the project period will also be evaluated. We will keep longitudinal tracking of previous participants. Completion of this program will equip undergraduate students with essential research and extension skills needed for the increasingly competitive job market and support future opportunities for agricultural economic growth and higher education development in WV.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
90%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
50111101100100%
Knowledge Area
501 - New and Improved Food Processing Technologies;

Subject Of Investigation
1110 - Apple;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to establish a summer undergraduate internship program on food microbial safety and related issues within the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design at West Virginia University (WVU).The objectives of the project are to: 1) Recruit a diverse population of undergraduate students for the summer internship; 2) Mentor undergraduate research and Extension projects to improve microbial safety of locally processed foods in West Virginia; 3) Evaluate student stress management and learning outcomes during/beyond project period
Project Methods
Obj 1. Recruit a diverse population of undergraduate students for the internship:With the rapidly-growing local food market nationwide, it is important to equip the future workforce with the necessary expertise in food and agricultural science. However, a major challenge facing the agricultural sector in WV is the lack of competent workers with up-to-date information and practical skills in food microbiology. The primary objective of the internship program, therefore, is to take advantage of the respective expertise at WVU to enrich students' learning on food safety-related issues and to develop better, more well-rounded and capable students for an increasingly competitive job market. Program participants will learn about bacteria isolation/identification, post-harvest produce processing, poultry meat processing, thermal inactivation data analysis/modeling, and economic analysis, as well as gaining hands-on experience at WVU Food Science Core Lab and Small Farm Center.Obj 2.Mentor undergraduate research and extension projects to improve microbial safety of locally processed foods in West Virginia:Mentors of the proposed summer internship program consist of PD Dr. Shen (food safety research/outreach specialist), Co-PDs Ms. Freshour (human nutrition program director), Dr. Etienne (agricultural economics and statistical analysis specialist), and Ms. Jones (Small Farm Center coordinator). All mentors have extensive experience in teaching and mentoring undergraduate students. Dr. Shen and Ms. Jones are also experts in outreach and extension. During the first three days of the internship program, participants will attend several training sessions before conducting the subsequent experimental activities. First, they will take biosafety training for handling biosafety level-1 and 2 foodborne pathogens, which will be organized by the PD Dr. Shen and Dr. Aly Elliot from Biosafety Office of WVU. The training will emphasize the three principles of conducting food safety research "Safety, Quality, and Quantity." Second, students will take 5 sections of 60-minute lectures on introduction to experimental design, data analysis, ethics of conducting food safety research, maintaining lab-note book record, and time and stress management during research, organized by the PDs Drs. Shen and Etienne, and Ms. Freshour. Lastly, Co-PD Ms. Jones will teach an introduction section on extension activities. The remainder of the program period will be devoted to the proposed research activities described in section 3.2.3. The research plans will be distributed to students before the research set-up day. Daily activities will include attending introduction sections, preparing material, conducting experiments, recording results, assessing findings, etc. The PD's team will examine the lab note books every three days and take corrective actions if any mistakes occur. A group meeting will be held at the end of each week to discuss the past-week activities, including troubleshooting plans and next week's research plan. Students will be encouraged to share their thoughts on the lab workload, difficulties they might have, and suggestions for future work. At the end of the 7 weeks of the experimental period, all students will attend a two-day symposium on: a) writing for peer-review publications; b) professional presentation of scientific work; and c) communicating scientific work with the general public, taught by the PD's team and other invited speakers from WVU. Students will then present their work in a simulated conference setting, attended by WVU professors, students, and interested public. Mentors will continue communicating with the participants through Emails after the internship. Reference letters will be provided for students pursuing graduate studies or a career in the food sector.Obj 3.Evaluate student learning outcomes and stress management during/beyond project: Feedback is an essential part of improving the student learning process. We plan to develop an online session for the program (through Blackboard or eCampus) in which participants can regularly test the scientific knowledge and skills they have learned in the program. Students will also have access to materials and readings on topics, such as how to record research notes, complete supervised research experiments, data collection, statistical analysis, drafting conference abstracts and peer-reviewed journal manuscripts, developing extension handouts, through the online platform. Each week, students will complete an online quiz that tests their knowledge on and understanding of the relevant topics. Questions in the quiz will be drawn from the PDs undergraduate courses in related topics. Mentors will provide students with timely and specific feedback on the quiz, as well as ways to improve their understanding on the topic.

Progress 04/01/24 to 03/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:All undergraduate internship participants who are interested in gaining basic knowledge and hands-on experience in conducting food microbial safety research. Changes/Problems:The FY 23-24 WVU RIF was continuelly affected the progress of this project due to the faculty leaving WVU and OSP reorgnized, which caused the process of our subaward to the Co-PD Dr. Etienne's group delayed dramatically. But we tried our best to complete the objectives as many as we can. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our previous year 2023 internship particiants Peighton Foster was sucessfully defended on June 2024 for her master degree focus on nutrition science(with the PD Dr. Shen and Co-PD Dr. Freshour were both on her MS committee) and our 2024 internship particiant Carly Long was accepted for PhD study at the PD Dr. Shen's group. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We believe the recruiting and training of the four undergraduate students gave us experience to recruit more students in our next year internship program. More undergraduates have been contacted with the PD Dr. Shen for research opportunites under the coordination of the Co-PD Dr. Nette Freshour. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We expect 4-6 stduents will be cruited during the next grant period time, and we will continue to complete the proposed research objectives. We expect at least 2 conference presentation and 1-2 peer-review publication will be generated during the next grant period time. An outreach based microbial safety of locally processed poultry meat website will be establish at WVU extension service website under the coordination of the Co-PD Ms. Lisa Jones.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We recruited 6 new undergraduate students Claire Suszynski , Avery Sickles, Willow Helon , Cece Hach, Sara Triplett and Kasia Jaczynska to conduct the internship activties, inlucding prepare bacterial medium, oragnizing lab supplies, and conduct microbial safety research and outreach projects under the guidance of our previous internship participants Corey Coe, Rebecca Stearns, Peighton Foster, Carly Long and Wentao Jiang. The detail of the outcomes are as follows, 1) We trained all particiants to complete the literature search and writing and published a book chapter titled as Microbial Analysis. In: Li, Y. (eds) Plant-Based Proteins. Methods and Protocols in Food Science. Humana, New York, NY. Frist in this chapter, we will enumerate overall microbial populations of plant protein using "Beyond Burger" as an example to use 3M@ petri-film including aerobic plate counts (APCs), total coliforms (TCCs) and generic Escherichia coli. APCs, TCCs, and generic E. coli (ECCs) are recognized as indicator microorganisms, which are usually suggested to be as a surrogate (non-pathogenic) to evaluate the presence of pathogens in that environment. APCs usually indicate the total aerobic microorganisms. TCCs are from the intestine of warm-blooded animals are gram-negative, non-endospore-forming, facultative, fermentation lactose generating acid and gas, and belong to the Enterobacteriaceae spp. Finally, generic ECCs is a member of TCCs and its presence indicates fecal contamination. 3M@ Petrifilm plates is called a "paper medium" with a foam barrier accommodating a 20 cm2 circular plating surface covered a top plastic film. It also has a cold-water-soluble gelling agent containing dehydrated nutrients in the middle of the film for plating, incubating and numerating indicator microorganisms. Second in this chapter, we will isolate Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes and using selective, enrich medium, immunology assay and multiple-channel biochemistry test to confirm the presence/absence of these two foodborne pathogens. 2) All particiants conducted a research project about triple-wash on green papers under the guidance of Ms. Peighton Foster, which is published in Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. This study aims to 1) evaluate the efficacy of peroxyacetic acid (PAA) to inactivate Listeria monocytogenes in 0.1 % buffered-peptone-water; and 2) evaluate the reduction and mitigation of cross-contamination on peppers. In study-1, aliquots of 1.0-ml PAA solutions (133, 265, and 448 ppm) were added to the first 6 wells of 8-strip-deep well microplates. Then, 0.1 ml of serially diluted nalidixic-acid-resistant (NaL) L. monocytogenes was added and mixed immediately with a multichannel pipette. After exposure for 0, 5, 15, 30, and up to 120-s, 1 ml of 2 × D/E neutralized solution was added to terminate the reaction followed by spread-plating onto tryptic soy agar +200 ppm NaL and incubated at 35 °C for 48 h. In study-2, 5 inoculated red peppers were triple-washed with 15 uninoculated green peppers with 0, 23, 53, and 96 ppm of PAA and analyzed using MPN-method. L. monocytogenes counts were <0.3 log10 CFU/ml after exposure to 133, 265, and 448 ppm of PAA for 120, 90 and 60 s, respectively and fit the Linear and Weibull Models. Applying 23-96 ppm of PAA reduced L. monocytogenes by 2.03-3.32 log10MPN/g and transferred cross-contaminated cell counts by 2.36-3.17 log10MPN/g, with no differences (P > 0.05) compared to the water only treatment. Results suggested that applying allowable concentrations (23-96 ppm) of PAA during triple-wash does not show promising anti-Listeria activity on peppers. Future studies are needed to determine the minimum concentrations of the PAA solution required to effectively reduce and mitigate microbial cross-contamination of Listeria monocytogenes on peppers. 3) Ms. Carly Long assisted our previous internship participant Dr. Rebecca Stearns for completeing a microbial safety survey study of triple-wash, which is published in Food Protection Trends.Fresh produce sold at local farmers' markets (FMs) was identified as a source of microbial contamination. In this study, a survey was developed to analyze small and very small produce growers' knowledge of food safety. The questionnaire also assessed producers' familiarity and willingness to implement the triple wash method (TWM). Surveys were conducted at FMs in West Virginia. The survey included demographics, knowledge of microbial cross-contamination on produce, washing strategies, awareness of the TWM, and willingness to attend good agricultural practice/ Food Safety Modernization Act (GAPS/FSMA) and TWM training. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test (P < 0.05) in R-software. A total of 82 vendors participated in the survey. The survey results revealed knowledge gaps about food safety among FM produce vendors. Additionally, 53.7% of FM vendors did not wash their produce due to increased spoilage (52.6%; P < 0.05). Among participants who washed produce, only 28.2% were familiar with the TWM. Most respondents who washed produce (65.3%; P < 0.05) stated they would be interested in attending GAP/FSMA and TWM training. The information obtained from this study will help tailor GAP/FSMA and TWM training provided by regional extension offices. 4) The Co-PD Dr. Xiaoli Etinenne at University of Idaho completed the following activities; two undergraduate students have been working on the impact of bird flu on egg prices. Preliminary work suggests that egg price increases are more impacted by consumer panic buying, as proxied by the Google Search index, than the actual supply disruption. The work was presented at the Barker Advisory Board meeting at the University of Idaho on 10/28/2024, and will be presented at the Universityof Idaho Undergraduate Research Symposium in April 2025.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cangliang Shen, Wentao Jiang, Corey Coe, and Carly Long (2025). Microbial Analysis. In: Li, Y. (eds) Plant-Based Proteins. Methods and Protocols in Food Science. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4272-6_8.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Peighton Foster, Corey Coe, Carly Long, Md Shafiul Islam Rion, Gary Freshour, Annette Freshour, Jacek Jaczynski, Kristen Matak, and Cangliang Shen*. 2024. Anti-Listeria efficacy of peroxyacetic acid in bacterial buffered solution and on bell peppers. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research 18, Article 101265.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Carly Long, Cangliang Shen, Rebecca Stearns. Microbial profile of broiler carcasses processed at a University Scale Mobile Poultry Processing Unit. 2024 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting, July 15-18th, Louisville, Kentucky, 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Beechinor, Hadley and Etienne, Xiaoli. 2024. Impact of Bird Flu on the Price Spread between Premium and Conventional Eggs. Presentation at the Barker Advisory Board Meeting, 10/28/2024, Moscow, Idaho.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Brouwer, Mika and Etienne, Xiaoli. 2024. Heterogeneous Effects of Bird Flu on Egg Prices Across Regions. Presentation at the Barker Advisory Board Meeting, 10/28/2024, Moscow, Idaho.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, Wentao Jiang, Janet Tou, Kristen Matak, Annette Freshour, Timothy Boltz, Jacek Jaczynski, Carly Long, and Cangliang Shen*. 2025. A Preliminary Pilot West Virginia Farmers Market Survey of Very Small Produce Growers' Knowledge of Microbial Contamination and Their Perception of the Triple-Wash Method. Food Protection Trend. 45, 42-57.


Progress 04/01/23 to 03/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:All undergraduate internship participants who are interested in gaining basic knowledge and hands-on experience in conducting food microbial safety research. Changes/Problems:We extend this summer intenship to normal fall and spring sementers due to the needed extra time to complete the proposed research objectives and the well-known WVU Academic Transformation Process in the summer to fall 2023. The CO-PD Dr. Xiaoli Etienne left WVU and joined University of Idaho. Due to the reorganiztion of WVU-OSP, her subaward ihas been severely delayed but finally went though Feb, 2024. Her outcomes will be reported in the next grant cycle. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?First of all, related to the "long term goal" of this internship, our previous participants Ms. Rebecca Stearns (from Wayne County West Virginia and is the member of WV Airforce National Guard) and has continued her MS and PhD studies in thePD Dr. Shen' lab and she sucessfully defended her Master degree of food science and human nutrition at WVU in the June 2022 and sucessfully defended for PhD degree in Dec 2023 with 10publications, and she guided all other participants for their own projects. This internship experience establish a strong fundation for our students to continure their future academic career in addtion to the completion of the proposed project. Second, Ms. Carly Long presented herresearch results at 2023Undergraduate Spring Symposium, West Virginia University, Oct, 2023, Morgantown, WV. In this spring, she is admitted for the WVU Food Science PhD Program. In addition, Ms. Jesica Temple, our third year summer internship participants continue her PhD studies after got her MS degree Dec 2023. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This year, we continued to advertisethis grant internship opportunies in our college and university also partnership with Davis-Michael Pre-Vet Sholarship program and try to recruit more undergraduate students to join this summer internship program. We believe the recruiting and training of the four undergraduate students gave us experience to recruit more students in our next year internship program. More undergraduates have been contacted with the PD Dr. Shen for research opportunites under the coordination of the Co-PD Dr. Nette Freshour and Co-PD Ms. Lisa Jones is also recruiting undergraduates specifically on food safety/agri marketing outreach arae. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As we all know, WVU went though a very painiful academic transformation process with laying off 169 faculties university wides, this past summer more or less affecting us to recruit proposed number of undergraduates to join the intership training program. We expect that continue to recruit 4 new undergrdaute stduents during the next grant period time, and we will continue to complete the proposed research objectives. We expect at least 2 conference presentation and 2 peer-review publication will be generated during the next grant period time. Also, after 1 year, our subaward is sucessfully transferred to our Co-PD Dr. Xiaoli Etiennne from Univeristy of Idaho, we expect to have at least some outcomes from her part.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the summer and winter 2023, we recruited 4 new internship participants who are Claire Suszynski, Emily Mattox, Ian Israelsen and Carly Long. They were recruited to conducted food safety research related to proposed objectives of fresh produce and antimicrobialinactivation on apple studies and coordinated with the CO-PD Ms. Nette Freshour and Dr. Rebecca Stearns, who is our first year summer internship participants and continured her research afterwards and got her PhD degree in Dec, 2023. Same as the first threeyears, they were all first taken the biosafety II safety training with Ms. Ali Elloit from WVU biosafety office, then conducted the 6-8 weeks food safety research training under the PD Dr. Shen and Dr. Rebecca Stearns. In addition to the research outcomes, we purchsed and installed a new texture analyzer for our participant Mr. Ian Israelsen.As a fundamental part of our research, we assessed the different rheological and textural qualities of food and agricultural products using thisTexture Technologies TA.XTPlus Connect for these analyses. This piece of equipment is the industry standard in texture analysis. It also meets the required AOAC standards for these analyses. Below are the research objectives we completed this past year.Objective 1. Wecompared conventional garden spray (GS), electrostatic spray (ES), and dip procedures for their efficacy of reducing and preventing cross-contamination of Listeria monocytogenes and the surrogate Listeria innocua on Fuji apples. Cross-contamination was made possible by treating 8 clean uninoculated apples and 4 apples inoculated with 200 ppm nalidixic acid resistant L. monocytogenes or L. innocua together. The treatments included water or 0.05, 0.10, and 0.25% of a sanitizer containing 23% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and 5.3% peroxyacetic acid (PAA). The treatments were applied using GS, ES, or the dip method for 45 s, respectively. A modified most probable number (MPN) method was utilized to enumerate microbial populations on apples. Data were examined using JMP software's mixed model analysis (n=15, 4 repeats, P=0.05). The greatest reductions were achieved using 0.25% H2O2-PAA delivered by the dip procedure for L. monocytogenes (3.63 log10MPN/g) and L. innocua (3.81 log10MPN/g). The cross-contamination rate was minimized by GS using 0.25% H2O2-PAA for both L. monocytogenes (-0.35 log10MPN/g) and L. innocua (0.19 log10MPN/g). For both reduction and cross-contamination rates, L. monocytogenes and L. innocua, behaved similarly (P > 0.05) using GS and dip method with 0.1 and 0.25% of H2O2 -PAA. Results of this study indicate L. innocua is an appropriate surrogate for L. monocytogenes for antimicrobial treatments. The results also indicated that the GS method along with 0.1 and 0.25% H2O2-PAA was the most efficient method for reducing and preventing microbial cross-contamination on apples. Objective 2.As the demand for locally grown products increases, pastured poultry production and on-farm mobile poultry harvest becomes more prevalent. Applying vinegar water to inactivate foodborne pathogens in pastured poultry is an attractive method to West Virginia local small broiler growers as it is viewed as an "organic process". Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the anti-salmonella efficacy of vinegar water of 0, 4.8, 9.6, and 12.5% during the chilling process of commercialized broiler samples. Fresh organic broiler carcasses were surface inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium followed by dip-chilling in refrigerated water for one hour. The broiler carcasses were rinsed with D/E neutralizing solution in a standard poultry sampling bag for 30 seconds followed by 10-fold serial dilution and spread plating onto Tryptic soy agar and XLT-4 agar, respectively. Results showed an overall 0.29 log reduction for 4.8 % vinegar water, 0.31 log reduction for 9.6%, and an overall 1.55 log increase for 12.5%. These results indicate relying only on commercial vinegar may not effectively control Salmonella on broiler carcasses due to the limited acetic acid concentration in chilling water. This must be emphasized in outreach training material for our local community. Objective 3.Fresh produce sold at local farmers' markets (FMs) was identified as a source of microbial contamination. In this study, a survey was developed to analyze small and very small produce growers' knowledge of food safety. The questionnaire also assessed producers' familiarity and willingness to implement the triple wash method (TWM). Surveys were conducted at FMs in West Virginia. The survey included demographics, knowledge of microbial cross-contamination on produce, washing strategies, awareness of the TWM, and willingness to attend good agricultural practice/ Food Safety Modernization Act (GAPS/FSMA) and TWM training. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test (P < 0.05) in R-software. A total of 82 vendors participated in the survey. The survey results revealed knowledge gaps about food safety among FM produce vendors. Additionally, 53.7% of FM vendors did not wash their produce due to increased spoilage (52.6%; P < 0.05). Among participants who washed produce, only 28.2% were familiar with the TWM. Most respondents who washed produce (65.3%; P < 0.05) stated they would be interested in attending GAP/FSMA and TWM training. The information obtained from this study will help tailor GAP/FSMA and TWM training provided by regional extension offices.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, Kristen Matak, Annette Freshour, and Cangliang Shen*. 2023. Comparison of the Efficacy of Hydrogen Peroxide-Peroxyacetic Acid Delivered by Three Methods Against Listeria monocytogenes and the Surrogate L. innocua on Apples. LWT-Food Science and Technology, 184, Article 114945.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jesica Temple, Rebecca Stearns, Corey Coe, Annette Freshour, and Cangliang Shen. Evaluate a Mixer of Hydrogen Peroxide and Peroxyacetic Acid to Mitigate Microbial Cross-Contamination of Salmonella Typhimurium and the Surrogate Enterococcus faecium during Triple Washing of Butternut Squash. 2023 Annual Meeting of International Association of Food Protection. July 16th to July 19th, Toronto, Canada.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Peighton Foster, Rebecca Stearns, Corey Coe, Carly Long, and Cangliang Shen. Anti-Listeria Efficacy of a Peroxyacetic Acid-H2O2 Mixer in Bacterial Buffered Solution and on Peppers. 2023 Annual Meeting of International Association of Food Protection. July 16th to July 19th, Toronto, Canada.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, Carly Long, Corey Coe, Lisa Jones, and Cangliang Shen. Survey of Small Local Produce Growers' Knowledge of Microbial Contamination and Perception of the Triple-Wash Method at Farmers Markets. 2023 Annual Meeting of International Association of Food Protection. July 16th to July 19th, Toronto, Canada.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Carly Long, and Cangliang Shen. Effect of Vinegar Water on Chicken Carcasses Contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium. 2023 6th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, West Virginia University, December 2nd, 2023, Morgantown, WV.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Cangliang Shen, Rebecca Stearns, Nettie Freshour, and Kristen Matak. Compare the Efficacy of Hydrogen Peroxide-Peroxyacetic Acid Delivered by Conventional Garden Sprayer, Electrostatic Sprayer, and Dip Methods on the Reduction and Mitigation of Cross-Contamination of Listeria monocytogenes and the Surrogate L. innocua on Apples. 2023 International Association of Food Protection European Symposium. May 3rd to May 5th, Aberdeen, Scotland.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Cangliang Shen, Rebecca Stearns, Corey Coe, Nettie Freshour, and Kristen Matak. Efficacy of a Triple-Wash with a Combination of Peroxyacetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide to Reduce Populations and Mitigate Cross-Contamination of Salmonella Typhimurium and the Surrogate Enterococcus faecium on Tomatoes. 2023 International Association of Food Protection European Symposium. May 3rd to May 5th, Aberdeen, Scotland.


Progress 04/01/22 to 03/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:All undergraduate internship participants who are interested in gaining basic knowledge and hands-on experience in conducting food microbial safety research. Changes/Problems:We extend this summer intenship to normal fall and spring sementers due to the needed extra time to complete the proposed research objectives. The CO-PD Dr. Xiaoli Etienneleft WVU and joined University of Idaho. Due to the reorganiztion of WVU-OSP, hersubaward ihas beenseverely delayed. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?First of all, related to the "long termgoal" of this internship, our previous participants Ms. Rebecca Stearns (from Wayne County West Virginia and is the member of WV Airforce National Guard) and has continued her MS and PhD studies in the PD Dr. Shen' lab and she sucessfully defendedher Masterdegree of food science and human nutrition at WVU in the June 2022 and now she is one of the students' instructor of this summer internship in this past grant cycle, and she guided Ms. Jesica Temple, Peighton Foster, Connor Freed for their own projects. Second, our last year participantMs. Alik Browning [who is our first internship participant out of state (from George)] also continued her Master studies at the PD Dr. Shen's lab and alsosucessfully defenedher Masterdegree of food science and human nutrition at WVU in the Fall 2022, now she is applying for PhD of food science for University of George. This internship experience establish a strong fundation for them to continure their future academic career in addtion to the completion of the proposed project. Second, Ms. Foster and Temple both presented their research results at2022 Undergraduate Spring Symposium, West Virginia University, April 9th, 2022, Morgantown, WV.In this fall, they are both admitted for the WVU Diatetics Program and they are still doing research in Dr. Shen's lab every day even after the internship perod time. In addition, Ms. Jesica Temple and Mr. Connor Freed both published one journal articleafter 8 weeks of summer training and only 1month of MS study, which is a second time that two first yearfresh M.S. students published peer-reviw article in well known food science journals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This year, we advertised this grant internship opportunies in our college and university also partnership with Davis-Michael Pre-Vet Sholarship program and try to recruit more undergraduate students to join this summer internship program.We believe the recruiting and training of the four undergraduate students gave us experience to recruit more students in our next year internship program. More undergraduates have been contacted with the PD Dr. Shen for research opportunites under the coordination of the Co-PD Dr. Nette Freshour. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Although WVU have lifted all covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the impact is still more or less affecting usto recruit proposednumber of undergraduates to join the intership training program. We expect that continue to recruit 4 new undergrdaute stduentsduring the next grant period time, and we will continue to complete the proposed research objectives. We expect at least 2 conference presentation and 2 peer-review publication will be generated during the next grant period time.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the summer and winter 2022, we recruited4 new internship participants who are Peighton Foster, Jesica Temple, Connor Freed, and Carly Long. Theywere recruited to conducted food safety research related to proposed objectives of fresh produce and thermal inactivation studies and coordinated with the CO-PD Ms. Nette Freshour. Same as the first two years, they were all first taken the biosafety II safety training with Ms. Ali Elloit from WVU biosafety office, then conducted the 6-8 weeks food safety research training under the PD Dr. Shen and Ms. Rebecca Stearns (first year internship participant), because the covid-19 restrition of WVU did not allow undergraduate stduents to conduct reseach individually. We continued to followall covid-19 guidlines from the unveristy and completed part of the proposed objectives, although the covid-19 restriction later lifted from the university. The P.D. Dr. Shen submittedand completed a new foodmicrobial lab manual titled as "Food Microbiology Laboratory for the Food Science Student: A Practical Approach.-2nd Edition 2023. Springer", which will bea major research training lab textbook for all internship participants. We completed the following research objectives as proposed Objective 1. We evaluated the survival of Listeria monocytogenes on organic Honey Crisp (HC) and Fuji (FJ) apples during storage at various temperatures. Fresh organic HC and FJ apples (without waxing coating) obtained from local wholesale market were inoculated with a 2-strain mixer of L. monocytogenes followed by storing at 5.0 [22.9% Relative Humidity (RH)], 12.0 (37.0% RH), and 22.5oC (50.4% RH) for 60, 35, 7 days, respectively, and periodically (day-0 to 60) analyzing microbial populations. Surviving L. monocytogenes were spread-plated on Modified-Oxford agar after 10 or 100-fold serial dilution. Data was analyzed using the mixed-model-procedure of SAS and GinaFit software. The initial populations of L. monocytogenes on HC and FJ apples were 6.23 to 6.89 log10CFU/apple for storage at 5, 12, and 22.5°C. The pathogen survival cell counts decreased (P < 0.05) to 2.34 to 4.05, 2.72 to 2.98, and 2.47 to 3.75 log10CFU/apple by the end of the storage at 5, 12, and 22.5°C. L. monocytogenes was more vulnerable (P < 0.05) on FJ than HC apples and at room temperature than cold storage temperatures. The inactivation parameters calculated from the Linear, Weibull, and Biphasic models generally are consistent with the pathogen survival curves with few exceptions. Results of this study filled the data gap for understanding of microbiological risks associated with postharvest practices of tree fruit production. Future studies are needed to quantify the natural wax amount on various organic apples and develop pre- and postharvest intenvention strategies for inactivation of foodborne pathogens on apples as well as other tree fruits. Objective 2. We evaluated the effectiveness of triple washing with a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-peroxyacetic acid (PAA) mixer to mitigate microbial cross-contamination of Salmonella Typhimurium and the surrogate bacteria Enterococcus faecium on butternut squash.To produce cross-contamination, one or two butternut squash were dip-inoculated with nalidixic acid-resistant S. Typhimurium (4.03 log10MPN/g) or E. faecium (4.20 log10MPN/g) and then mixed with 6 ("1:6") or 5 ("2:5") uninoculated fresh clean squash followed by triple-washing for 45 s in water, water, and then the H2O2-PAA mixer at doses 0, 0.0064, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.84 ml/dL. The most-probable-number was used to determine microbial population. Triple washing squash with 0.25 to 0.84 ml/dL H2O2-PAA mixer resulted in greater (P < 0.05) reductions of S. Typhimurium and E. faecium by 2.50 to 3.10 and 2.01 to 3.43 log10MPN/g, respectively, than the 0 and 0.0064 ml/dL treated samples. Applying 0.25 to 0.84 ml/dL H2O2-PAA mixer resulted 1.02 to 1.31 and 0.84 to 1.12 log10MPN/g cross-contaminated S. Typhimurium cell counts in the "1:6" and "2:5" ratio tests, respectively. E. faecium showed similar reduced cell counts and cross-contaminated cell counts in most tested treatments compared to S. Typhimurium, indicating it is an appropriate surrogate bacterium for Salmonella during post-harvest produce washing challenge studies. Objective 3. We completed a literature review of "Literature Review for Applying Peroxyacetic acid and/or Hydrogen Peroxide to Control Foodborne Pathogens on Food Products". As a major biological hazard, foodborne pathogens infect 48 million people annually, and are a major food safety concern in the U.S. Applying antimicrobial chemical agents is still an effective approach to control foodborne pathogens during food processing. Peroxyacetic acid (PAA) is an organic peroxide based, colorless liquid with a low pH and a strong, pungent, vinegar-like odor, which is formed from the chemical reaction of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Commercial PAA products contain all three chemicals in an aqueous solution often with stabilizers added, which can exert antimicrobial activity against microorganisms. PAA are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Department of Agriculture-Food Safety and Inspection Services (USDA-FSIS) for use as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) antimicrobial agent on meat, poultry and egg products with the concentrations between 0.005 to 0.2%. This review provides detailed summaries of antimicrobial activities of PAA and H2O2 alone or in combination on fresh produce, meat and poultry products, and eggs against foodborne pathogens. This information is useful for food processors in the development of operational procedures for applying PAA and H2O2 during post-harvest food processing to control foodborne pathogens on food products.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Connor Freed, Rebecca Stearns, Nettie Freshour, Yangchao Luo, and Cangliang Shen*. 2022. Survival of Listeria monocytogenes on organic Honeycrisp and Fuji apples during storage at 5, 12 and 22.5�C. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 10, Article 100455.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jesica Temple, Rebecca Stearns, Corey Coe, Heather Chaney, Janet Tou, Annette Freshour, Yangchao Luo, Cangliang Shen*. 2023. Evaluation of the efficacy of a mixer of hydrogen peroxide and peroxyacetic acid to mitigate microbial cross-contamination of Salmonella Typhimurium and the surrogate Enterococcus faecium during triple-washing of butternut squash. LWT - Food Science and Technology, Article 114313.
  • Type: Books Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2023 Citation: Cangliang Shen and Yifan Zhang. Food Microbiology Laboratory for the Food Science Student: A Practical Approach-2nd Edition. 2023. Springer.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, and Cangliang Shen. The Efficacy of Conventional Garden Spray, Electrostatic Spray, and Dip with a Peroxyacetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide Mixer to Inactivate Listeria monocytogenes on Apples. 2022 Annual Meeting of the International Association of Food Protection. July 31 to August 3rd, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, Nettie Freshour, and Cangliang Shen*. 2022. Literature review for applying peroxyacetic acid and/or hydrogen peroxide to control foodborne pathogens on food products. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 10, Article 100442.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cangliang Shen. Research updates of Salmonella and the surrogate Enterococcus faecium during thermal and non-thermal processing of chicken meat and fresh produce. 2022 Annual Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists. July 10-13, Chicago, IL. (Virtual Recording + In person Q&A)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, Jingyi Xue, Yangchao Luo, and Cangliang Shen. Survival of Listeria monocytogenes and Compare Conventional or Electrostatic Spray, and Dip with a Mixer of Peroxyacetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide to against the pathogen on Organic Apples. 2022 Annual Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists. July 10-13, Chicago, IL. (Virtual Recording + In person Poster)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Alik Browning, Rebecca Stearns, Corey Coe, Tim Boltz, Peighton Foster, Jesica Temple and Cangliang Shen. Impact of Temperature and Salt Concentrations for Thermal Inactivation of Salmonella in Moisture Enhanced Reconstructed Chicken Patties. 2022 Annual Meeting of the International Association of Food Protection. July 31 to August 3rd, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Jesica Temple, Rebecca Stearns, Peighton Foster, Corey Coe, Tim Boltz, and Cangliang Shen. Evaluate Triple-Wash with SaniDate-5.0 to Reduce Salmonella Typhimurium on Squashes. 2022 Undergraduate Spring Symposium, West Virginia University, April 9th, 2022, Morgantown, WV.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Peighton Foster, and Cangliang Shen. Modeling the Anti-listeria Efficacy of SaniDate-5.0 in Bacterial Buffered Solutions. 2022 Undergraduate Spring Symposium, West Virginia University, April 9th, 2022, Morgantown, WV.


Progress 04/01/21 to 03/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:All undergraduate internship participants who are interested in gaining basic knowledge and hands-on experience in conducting food microbial safety research. Changes/Problems:Same as last year, the current covid-19 pandemic issue is really hurting the progress of the porposed objectives, for example, due to the university policy we will not be able to recruit orginal targeted number of 6-8 undergraduates, which needs to decreased to 2- 4students. But we will try out best to follow proposed grant objectives and at the same time following federal, state and university covid-19 guildines to complete all proposed objectives as much as we can. We also extend this summer intenship to normal fall and spring sementers due to the current covid-19 issue. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Among the 4 internship participants, Ms. Rebecca Stearns is from Wayne County West Virginia and is the member of WV Airforce National Guard and she completed her bachelor degree of food science and human nutritionfrom both Marshall University and WVU. Ms. Alik Browning is our first internship participant out of state (from George).After the internship section, Rebecca Stearns and Alik Browning are continuting their MS studies at WVU in Dr. Shen's lab.Ms. Foster and Temple are both pre-selected for the WVU Diatetics Program and they are still doing research in Dr. Shen's lab every day even after the internship perod time. Typically Ms. Rebecca Staerns has published one journal article in journal of food protection after just 6 weeks of training and 9 month of MS study, which is very rare among fresh M.S. students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We believe the recruiting and training of the four undergraduate students gave usexperience to recruit more students in our next year internship program. More undergraduates have been contacted with the PD Dr. Shen for research opportunites under the coordination of the Co-PD Dr. Nette Freshour. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Due to the unprediction of the current covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to recruit limited number of undergraduates to join the intership training program and following unversity covid-19 policy. We expect 2-4 stduents will be cruited during the next grant period time, and we will continue to complete the proposed research objectives. We expect at least 2conference presentation and 1-2 peer-review publication will be generated during the next grant period time.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this still difficult year with covid-19 pandemic, we still tried our best to recruit undergraduate stduents to complete proposed objectives. During the summer and winter 2021, Ms. Rebecca Stearns, Alik Browning, Peighton Foster, and Jesica Templewere recruited to conducted food safety research related to proposed objectives of fresh produceand thermal inactivation studies. Same as last year, they were all first taken the biosafety II safety training with Ms. Ali Elloit from WVU biosafety office, then conducted the 3-6 weeks food safety research training under the PD Dr. Shen, because the covid-19 restrition of WVU did not allow undergraduate stduents to conduct reseach individually. We followed all covid-19 guidlines from the unveristy and completed part of the proposed objectives.Dr. Shen published a new general microbial lab manual titled as "Introductory Microbiology Lab Skill and Techniques in Food Science. 2021. Elsevier Inc. ISBN 9780128216781.", which is a major research training lab textbook for all internship participants. Details of completed objectives are as follows, Objective 1.This study aimed to determine the survival of L. monocytogenes on apples during storage and evaluate the efficacy of a peroxyacetic-acid and H2O2 mixer delivered by conventional garden sprayer (GS), electrostatic sprayer (ES) and dip methods to inactivate the pathogen on apples. Organic Honey Crisp (HC), Fuji (FJ), and Pink Lady (PL) were dip-inoculated with L. monocytogenes (2-strain) followed by storage at room temperature for 168 h and periodically analyzed cell counts on MOX-agars. Another batch of inoculated apples were kept untreated (control), sprayed with water only, or treated with the H2O2-peroxyacetic-acid mixer [SaniDate-5.0 (SD), 0.0064, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.50%] for 20 s via GS, ES, or dip, followed by draining (2 min) on aluminum foil. Surviving bacteria were also recovered on MOX-agars. Atomic force microcopy was used to detect the mechanism of inactivation of L. monocytogenes in broth medium by the SD solution. Data (2 replicates/6 samples/replicate) were analyzed using the Mixed Model Procedure of SAS (P=0.05) and Gina-fit software for survival models. Survivals of L. monocytogenes on untreated apples decreased from 6.70-6.90 to 2.47, 3.75 and 4.5 log CFU/apple on FJ, HC and PL apples, respectively, which can fit the linear, Weibull, and biphasic models indicating a residual pathogen resistant to the apple surfaces. The dip method was the most effective treatment (P<0.05) on pathogen reductions (2.31-2.41 log CFU/apple) followed by GS (1.44-1.70 log CFU/apple) and then ES (0.84-1.20 log CFU/apple). Reductions of L. monocytogenes were greatest (P < 0.05) when apples were treated with SD-0.25 and -0.50%. Atomic force microscopy analyses indicated that inactivation of L. monocytogenes cells in SD solutions resulted from disruption of the outer membrane. The SD-treated cells had increased width, height and decreased roughness when compared to the untreated cells. Results suggested that applying SD by dip or GS methods is better for pathogen reduction than ES on apples and filled the data gap for understanding of microbiological risks associated with tree fruits. Objective 2. This study was to determine the thermal kinetic parameters of Salmonella in MH-reconstructed ground chicken patties as affected by temperatures and salt concentrations. Fresh 500 chicken breast was grounded, inoculated with Nalidixic-acid (NaL-200 ppm) resistant Salmonella Typhimurium followed by adding NaCl (1.0 and 3.0%) + Na-tripolyphosphate (0.5%) solutions to achieve pump rates of 8%. Samples were than weighted for 10-gram and added into filtered food sample bags vacuum packaged and followed by storing at 4°C for 42-h before heating in a circulated water bath set at 62, 66, 70, and 74oC for 0, 15, 25, 30, to 180-s, respectively. Counts of the pathogen cells were analyzed on tryptic soy agars plus NaL-200 ppm. Microbial survival populations and thermal inactivation kinetics (USDA-Global-Fit software) were analyzed by the Mixed Model Procedure (SAS, n=8, 2-repeats, P=0.05).Thermal dynamic data fit Weibull Model (RMSE=0.5163 to 0.7381 and AIC values=-44.026 to -8.868), but not the linear model (RMSE >1.000). Calculated D-values of chickens with 1.0% and 3% salt decreased (P<0.05) from 126.4±14.2, 44.6±6.9, 32.3±3.6, to 30.4±4.9 sec, and decreased (P<0.05) from 171.0±15.2, 56.4±5.7, 29.3±6.5, and to 24.8±4.9 sec, when heating temperatures increased from 62, 66, 70, to 74oC, respectively. D62 and D66 values of 3% salt samples were greater (P<0.05) than 1% salt samples, whereas their D70 and D74 values are similar (P>0.05). Results indicate that thermal resistance of Salmonella was significantly affected by temperature, and salt concentrations, which will be useful by the poultry meat industry to develop proper thermal processes to eliminate Salmonella in MH chicken products. Objective 3.The study aimed to determine the knowledge and practices of consumers who frequent local farmers' markets (FMs). A total of 270 consumers at 6 FMs in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan were interviewed. Eleven questions were asked in face-to-face interviews or by self-reported questionnaire. Questions included basic information, purchasing frequency, food handling practices, food safety concerns. and responsibility. Data from surveys were analyzed using Chi-square tests to examine differences (P = 0.05). Results showed that 24.3-34.7% of participants purchased fresh vegetables and fruits once every week per season. Most participants (93.5-97.5%, P < 0.05) thought "Availability," "Freshness," and "Flavor and taste" were "very" to "extremely important" in their decision regarding which perishable foods to purchase. More than 80% of participants reported that they always washed their hands and produce before preparing foods at home. Fewer than 50% of the participants reported refrigerating their purchased foods within 30 min. Most of the participants (> 85%) never checked the thermometer of the vendor's booth. Over half of the participants (64.8%) believe that farmers and vendors should take the greatest responsibility for the microbial safety of products at FMs. The results emphasized the need for consumer education regarding safe food handling practices at FMs, especially the temperature control of perishable foods. Ms. Rebecca conducted part of the survey activties and organized all data and revised the manuscript.

Publications

  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Cangliang Shen and Yifan Zhang. Introductory Microbiology Lab Skill and Techniques in Food Science. 2021. Elsevier Inc. ISBN 9780128216781.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rebecca Stearns, Jingyi Xue, Nettie Freshour, Kristen Matak, Yangchao Luo, and Cangliang Shen. 2022. The Efficacy of Conventional Spray, Electrostatic Spray, and Dip with a Combination of Hydrogen Peroxide and Peroxyacetic Acid to Inactivate Listeria monocytogenes on Apples. Journal of Food Protection. https://doi.org/10.4315/JFP-21-448
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cangliang Shen, Hanna Khouryieh, KaWang Li, Wentao Jiang, Sumit K. Paudel, Nirosha Ruwani Amarasekara, Yifan Zhang, Rebecca Stearns, Corey Coe, Kristen Matak, and Lisa Jones. 2022. Survey of Consumers Knowledge of Food Safety of Perishable Foods Purchased at Local Farmers Markets. Food Protection Trends.


Progress 04/01/20 to 03/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:All undergraduate internship participants who are interested ingaining basic knowledge and hands-on experience in conducting food microbial safety research. Changes/Problems:The current covid-19 pandemic issue is really hurting the progress of the porposed objectives, for example, due to the university policy we will not be able to recruit orginal targeted number of 6-8 undergraduates, which needs to decreased to 2-3 students. But we will try out best to follow proposed grant objectives and at the same time following federal, state and university covid-19 guildines to complete all proposed objectives as much as we can. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the summer 2020, Ms. Jeanna LaBarbara, Anna Loyd, and Carly Waldman were recruited to conducted food safety research related to proposed objectives of apple and thermal inaction studies. After summer,Ms. Jeanna LaBarbara, Anna Loyd, were both admitted into vet school of Mississippi State University, and Carly Waldman was accepted into WVU master degree of human nutrition and food science. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We believe the initaion of the three undergraduate students gave us training experience to recruit more students in our next year internship program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Due to the unprediction of the current covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to recruit limited number of undergraduates to join the intership training program and following unversity covid-19 policy. We expect2-4stduents will be cruited during the next grant period time, and we will continue to complete the proposed research objectives. We expect at least 1 conference presentation and 1 peer-review publication will be generated during the next grant period time.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this very difficult year with covid-19 pandemic, we still tried our best to recruit undergraduate stduents to complete proposed objectives. During the summer 2020, Ms. Jeanna LaBarbara, Anna Loyd, and Carly Waldman were recruited to conducted food safety research related to proposed objectives of apple and thermal inaction studies. As proposed, they were all first taken the biosafety II safety training with Ms. Ali Elloit from WVU biosafety office, then conducted the 3-6 weeks food safety research training under the PD Dr. Shen and Dr. Shen's graduate students' Mr. Wentao Jiang and KaWang Li, because the covid-19 restrition of WVU did not allow undergraduate stduents to conduct reseach individually. We followed all covid-19 guidlines from the unveristy and completed part of the proposed objectives. Details are as below.Obejctive 1 Survival of Listeria monocytogenes on Mcintosh, Fuji, and Honeycrisp Apples Stored at the Room Temperature .This study aimed to evaluate and modeling the survival of Listeria monocytogenes on apples during storage at the room temperature. Fresh organic McIntosh, Honeycrisp, Fuji apples (without waxing coating) obtained from local wholesale market were inoculated with a 4-strain mixer of L. monocytogenes followed by storing onto wholesale produce rack at 22.5oC (50.40% RH) for 7 days and periodically (day-0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7) analyzing microbial populations. Surviving L. monocytogenes were spread-plated on Modified-Oxford agar. Data (2 replicates/4 samples/replicate) were analyzed using the mixed-model-procedure of SAS, USDA-Integrated-Predictive-Modeling-Program and GinaFit software.Results showed thatL. monocytogenes on McIntosh, Honeycrisp, and Fuji apples decreased (P < 0.05) from 4.72 to <0.89, 4.31 to 1.80, and 4.57 to 1.89 log10CFU/g after 3, 7, and 7 days storage, respectively, with the faster (P < 0.05) decline rate and greater (P<0.05) reductions showed on McIntosh apples. The p-values of Mafart-Weibull model were 0.30-0.45 indicated that no shoulder-time existed among tested apples. The Kmax value of linear-tail and the Kmax1 value of biphasic model showed greater (P < 0.05) inactivation rates of L. monocytogenes on Mclntosh (Kmax=10.98, Kmax1=11.15) than on Fuji (Kmax=6.91, Kmax1=7.97) and Honeycrisp apples (Kmax=6.06, Kamx1=6.46), and the tail time is shorter (P < 0.05) on McIntosh (1.16 days) than Fuji (1.80 days) and Honeycrisp (1.88 days). Results of this study filled the data gap for understanding of microbiological risks associated with postharvest practices of tree fruit production. Future studies are needed to quantify the natural wax amount on various organic apples. Objective 2.Inactivation of Campylobacter jejuni in Moisture Enhanced Non-Intact Chicken Patties by Double Pan-broiling as Affected by Cooking Set-Up Temperature and Pump Rate.This study aimed to evaluate the thermal inactivation of Campylobacter jejuni in moisture enhanced reconstructed non-intact chicken patties with various pump rates and double pan-broiled at different temperatures. Fresh 1.5-kg coarse-ground chicken breast, inoculated with C. jejuni (3-strain mixture), were moisture enhanced with NaCl (2.0%) + Na-tripolyphosphate (0.5%) solutions to reach 1.0 %, 5.0 % or 11.0 % pump rates. Inoculated samples were then manufactured into patties (2.1 cm thick and 10.4 cm diameter) followed by aerobic storage at 40.1oF for 42.0 h before double pan-broiling for 0.0 to 360.0 s with temperatures set at 200.0, 300.0, 400.0 or 425.0oF. C. jejuni counts were analyzed on Brucella agars under microaerophilic condition. Cooking reduced (P < 0.05) C. jejuni cells from 5.3-5.8 log CFU/g to < 0.3 log CFU/g after 330.0-360.0 (200.0oF), 210.0 (300.0oF), 180.0-210.0 (400.0oF), and 150.0-165.0 s (425.0oF) in all chicken samples. D-values (Weibull-model) of samples with 1.0% pump rate (118.2 and 112.0 s) were lower (P < 0.05) than 11.0% samples (139.5 and 124.0 s) when cooked at 400.0 and 425.0oF, respectively. These findings will be useful for USDA-FSIS to develop risk assessments of Campylobacter in moisture enhanced non-intact chicken products.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: 4. Wentao Jiang, KaWang Li, Yu-Chun Chiu, Carly Waldman, and Cangliang Shen 2020. Inactivation of Campylobacter jejuni in Moisture Enhanced Non-Intact Chicken Patties by Double Pan-broiling as Affected by Cooking Set-Up Temperature and Pump Rate. LWT - Food Science and Technology, 133, Article 109938.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: 4. Jeanna LaBarbara, Anna Loyd, KaWang Li, Wentao Jiang, and Cangliang Shen. Survival of Listeria Monocytogenes on Mcintosh, Fuji, and Honeycrisp Apples Stored at 22oC. 2020 Annual Meeting of the International Association of Food Protection. Oct. 26-28, Cleveland, Ohio (Virtual Conference)