Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project includes, but is not limited to, the academic community, comprising graduate and undergraduate students, engineers, and scientists; the agricultural and food industries, including the food-processing and food-service sectors; and government agencies and other stakeholders interested in enhancing food safety and understanding how technology impacts food quality. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided its student researchers with important opportunities for training, both in the handling of Risk Group 2 microorganisms and essential microbiological skills such as culturing, inoculating, and enumerating. In terms of professional development as researchers, they enhanced their competencies in literature review, data analysis, data organization, experimental design, and scientific presentation, and established a research team that meets regularly to discuss experimental findings, troubleshoot challenges, and refine approaches. They also gained valuable experience of preparing and delivering presentations at professional meetings and conferences, which as well as enhancing their communication skills exposed them to broader scientific and engineering communities. Overall, the project has offered an excellent platform for students to build fundamental skills and gain practical experience of developing engineering solutions to food-safety issues. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been and will continue to be disseminated through various professional conferences, meetings, and peer-reviewed scientific journals. Specifically, our experimental findings were presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection, and later this year will be shared at the Reciprocal Meats Conference of the American Meat Science Association and the International Congress on Far-UVC Science and Technology. One peer-reviewed scientific journal article based on the results has been published in Food Microbiology, and two additional manuscripts are currently in preparation for journal submission. More details can be found in the Products section of this report. In addition, the Principal Investigator has actively engaged with the academic community and other stakeholders, including current and potential industrial partners, to discuss the project's key technologies and findings. These discussions have fostered successful collaborations and stakeholder involvement, including the above-mentioned projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
First, we developed a microplasma-based far-UVC light system and systematically characterized its performance, including irradiance, under various operating conditions. We then assessed the system's decontamination efficacy against foodborne pathogens both in a liquid buffer (phosphate-buffered saline) and on several common food-contact surfaces--such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET, a plastic widely used in food packaging) and stainless steel (commonly found in food-processing equipment)--across a range of dosages. The model pathogens used in this study were Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium, two of the most prevalent dangerous bacteria associated with food-safety concerns in ready-to-eat meat products. Our laboratory-scale far-UVC system was able to achieve approximately 5-log reductions in both L. monocytogenes and S. Typhimurium in liquid buffer and on food-contact surfaces. In general, higher dosages led to greater bacterial-inactivation efficacy. To better understand the system's inactivation kinetics, we subjected our bacterial-reduction data to log-linear and Weibull modeling. The log-linear model provided a better fit for the liquid-buffer inactivation data, while the Weibull model was more suitable for data on food-contact surfaces. The mechanisms of the observed bacterial inactivation are likely to have included damage to cell-membrane integrity and/or the generation of reactive oxygen species induced by far-UVC light exposure. Next, we developed a second microplasma-based far-UVC light system equipped with two lamps, one positioned above and the other below a stage for the target food, to enable simultaneous top and bottom treatment of ready-to-eat meat samples. This system was able to inactivate more than 90% of both L. monocytogenes and S. Typhimurium on inoculated samples. For instance, its delivery of a dosage of 786.3 mJ/cm² per side to ready-to-eat turkey-breast samples resulted in approximate reductions of 96% for L. monocytogenes and 92% for S. Typhimurium. We also investigated the effects of far-UVC treatment on the quality of two types of ready-to-eat meat, turkey and ham, at dosages up to 786.3 mJ/cm², via daily monitoring over a five-day storage period immediately following the day of treatment (hereafter, Day 0). At the highest dosage tested, instrumental color differences were observed between treated and untreated samples; however, these differences did not translate into meaningful changes in trained evaluators' purchase intentions. For turkey, no significant treatment × storage-time interactions were found for lightness (L*), redness (a*), or 570/650 nm reflectance ratio at the highest dosage tested. Significant differences in yellowness (b*) and chroma (C*, i.e., color saturation) were detected on Days 1-3 but disappeared by Day 4. At the same dosage, treatment of ham had no effect on lightness, redness, or reflectance ratio, but did affect yellowness, ΔE (total color difference), and chroma from Days 1 to 5. Notably, although far-UVC treatment initially caused yellowing in turkey, its color returned to near-normal within two hours. Therefore, while far-UVC may be impractical for freshly sliced deli meats due to time restraints, it holds excellent potential for decontaminating pre-packaged sliced deli-meat products and for sanitization of the equipment used in various related operations. Given that far-UVC light has recently been shown to be significantly less harmful to humans than conventional UVC light--even at comparable or higher dosages--its use for enhancing food safety holds great promise. Coupled with the experimental results from this study, these characteristics position far-UVC as an effective and versatile alternative for decontaminating liquids, food-contact surfaces, and even ready-to-eat deli meat products. This opens new opportunities for safer, non-thermal antimicrobial interventions in the food industry. It also should be noted that the knowledge, experience, and preliminary data gained from this project helped the PI strengthen two successful proposals: one to the Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant Program for research on using far-UVC light systems to decontaminate specialty crops, and another--submitted as a co-PI--to the U.S. Department of Energy for developing advanced far-UVC modules to enhance food safety. These outcomes highlight the project's ongoing impact both in terms of advancing scientific discovery and of laying the foundations for future benefits to the food and agricultural industries and public health.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Kim, S. R., Murayshid, A. A. A. B., Zhang, H., Park, J., Ventura, P. C., Jin, Z., Miura, M., Stasiewicz, M., Wang, Y.-C. (2025). Inactivation of foodborne pathogens in liquids, on food-contact surfaces, and on deli meat using Far-UVC light. International Congress on Far-UVC Science and Technology (ICFUST), Boulder, CO, United States.
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Kim, S. R., Ventura, P. C., Jin, Z., Miura, M., Stasiewicz, M., Wang, Y.-C. (2025). Improving ready-to-eat meat safety: Evaluating the bacterial-inactivation efficacy of microplasma-based far-UVC light treatment of food-contact surfaces and deli turkey breast. Food Microbiology, 126, 104674.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Wang, Y.-C. (2024). Ultraviolet-light systems for improving food safety and security. SPIE Optics + Photonics 2024, San Diego, CA, United States.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Wang, Y.-C. (2025). Evaluating the potential of Far-UVC light for improving food safety and security. International Congress on Far-UVC Science and Technology, Boulder, CO, United States.
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Progress 01/01/23 to 12/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project includes but is not limited to an academic community comprising graduate and undergraduate students, engineers, and scientists; government agencies; and the food industry. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The student researchers participating in this project have all received training in handling Risk Group 2 microorganisms and gained basic microbiological-experimentation skills, including culturing, inoculating, and enumerating. Through participation in this project, these students have also commenced learning important research skills including literature review, data analysis, data organization, experimental design, and presentation. Additionally, they have established a research team, convening regularly to analyze their experimental findings and to identify solutions to any obstacles they encounter. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Some of the outcomes of this work were presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection. Additionally, the PI has been actively discussing the project's technologies and results with the academic community and other stakeholders, including various existing and potential industrial partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we plan to complete 1) our evaluation of the efficacy of microplasma-based far-UVC light for inactivating bacteria on real foods and on food-contact surfaces other than stainless steel; 2) our investigation of such light's bacterial-inactivaction mechanisms; and 3) our measurement of the quality of foods before and after far-UVC light treatment.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period, the team conducted systematic experiments on far-UVC light's bacterial-inactivation efficacies against two of the foodborne bacterial strains most commonly associated with ready-to-eat meat: Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium. Specifically, we used a self-built microplasma-based far-UVC light system to inactivate the above-mentioned pathogens on a common food-contact surface, stainless steel, and found it capable of achieving approximately 5-log reductions in their density. We then built another microplasma-based far-UVC light system for treating ready-to-eat meat samples, and our preliminary results show that it could inactivate more than 90% of both pathogens on such samples. Additionally, we studied the potential mechanisms whereby far-UVC light inactivates these bacteria, and have commenced preliminary experiments aimed at ascertaining whether/how the quality of ready-to-eat meat is impacted by far-UVC treatment. It is worth noting that the knowledge, experience, and preliminary data gained from this project also helped the PI strengthen a collaborative proposal (in which they serve as a co-PI) to the Department of Energy for research on developing advanced far-UVC modules for enhancing food safety. That proposal has now been funded.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Jin, Z., Zhao, F., Li, L., Wang, Y.-C. (2023). Tribo-sanitizer: A portable and self-powered UV device for enhancing food safety. Nano Energy, 115, 108675.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Kim, S. R., Miura, M., Jin, Z., Wang, Y.-C. Far-UVC light for inactivating foodborne pathogens in a liquid medium and on food-contact surfaces. International Association for Food Protection annual meeting, July 16-19, 2023.
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Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project is an academic community comprising graduate and undergraduate students, engineers, and scientists. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The student researchers participating in this project have all received training in handling Risk Group 2 microorganisms and gained experience in basic microbiological experiment skills, including culturing, inoculating, and enumerating. They have also formed a research team that meets regularly to discuss their experimental results and establish solutions to any challenges they have encountered. Through participation in this project, these students have also learned important research skills such as literature review, data analysis, data organization, experimental design, and presentation. In short, this project has provided an excellent opportunity for them to develop important skills and gain hands-on experience in developing engineering approaches to address food-safety issues. 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?In the next reporting period, we plan to: 1) Complete our evaluation of the efficacy of microplasma-based far-UVC light for inactivating bacteria on food-contact surfaces, 2) Commence our evaluation of the efficacy of far-UVC light for decontaminating real foods, and 3) Commence our evaluation of the quality of foods before and after far-UVC light treatment.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period, our research team built a microplasma-based far-UVC light system and systematically studied its characteristics, such as irradiance, under a variety of operating conditions. We then evaluated the system's decontamination efficacy against foodborne bacteria in a liquid buffer (phosphate buffered saline) and on a common food-contact surface (polyethylene terephthalate) under various operational parameters (Objective 1). Our preliminary results show that our laboratory-scale far-UVC system is capable of achieving five-log reductions in bacteria both in liquid and on surfaces. More research and analyses are underway to systematically understand its efficacy under further operational parameters and its bacterial-inactivation mechanisms. We have also established protocols for our planned experimental decontamination of real food (Objective 2), and will commence such experiments along with the Objective 3 experiments during the next reporting period. It is worth noting that the knowledge, experience, and preliminary data gained from conducting this project have also helped the PI strengthen a proposal to Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant Program for research on whether/how far-UVC light systems can be used to decontaminate specialty crops. That proposal has now been funded.
Publications
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