• Cold plasma reduces harmful bacteria on raw chicken

    Recent high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness have involved contaminated fresh produce, but the most common source of harmful bacteria in food is uncooked poultry and other meat products; studies have shown that plasma could successfully reduce pathogens on the surface of fruits and vegetables without cooking them, and scientists demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry

  • Research collaboration to fight Campylobacter jejuni

    Campylobacter, primarily C. jejuni, is the third leading cause of death from foodborne infections in the world; in the United States alone, it affects nearly 2.4 million people, causes an estimated 58,000 illnesses and 200 deaths, and costs companies millions of dollars in recall losses each year

  • Invaders wreak havoc on U.S. ecosystems

    In the decade since the 9/11 attacks, DHS’ focus on combatting terrorism has left some of its core agencies ill-equipped to perform its other missions, namely the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) ability to prevent invasive plants and insects from entering the United States and wreaking havoc on crops

  • Europe crops damaged by pollution crossing oceans, continents

    Pollution originating from North America is responsible for a 1.2 million ton annual loss of wheat in Europe; this is the biggest intercontinental ozone pollution-related impact on any food crop

  • New food-pathogen detection system

    A new food pathogen detection system is based on a combination of technologies involving isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection

  • Farmers urge Congress to reject antibiotic restrictions in animals

    Pending bills H.R. 965 (House) and S. 1211 (Senate) would remove specific antibiotics and classes of antibiotics from animal feed; the purpose is to make sure that bacteria these antibiotics are aimed to combat do not become drug-resistant, thus endangering human health and lives; farmers and ranchers say the bills go too far

  • New $25 million beef safety research effort

    The $25 million effort will focus on ways to reduce the occurrence and public health risks from Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), a serious threat to the food supply that results in more than 265,000 infections in the United States each year

  • Better understanding of Listeria

    About 20 percent of people diagnosed with listeriosis die, compared to less than 1 percent of those inflicted by Salmonella; the harmful strains of Listeria are thus more lethal than Salmonella, but it exists in benign species and strains as well; scientists discover why some forms of Listeria are fatal and others are not

  • FDA bans use of some antibiotic in animals

    The cephalosporin class of drugs is important in treating human diseases, such as pneumonia, skin and tissue infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, and other conditions; the FDA has just restricted the use of the cephalosporin class of antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals in order to preserve the effectiveness of these drugs in treating humans

  • Creating drought-tolerance in crops

    Researchers’ discovery creates new blueprint for engineering drought tolerant crops; the researchers found a way to rewire this cellular machinery to heighten the plants’ stress response — a finding that can be used to engineer crops to give them a better shot at surviving and displaying increased yield under drought conditions

  • Innovative molecular detection system spots foodborne pathogens

    3M introduced the 3M Molecular Detection System, a method of detecting dangerous pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli O157, and Listeria, that can shut down businesses and threaten public health

  • MSU lands USDA grants totaling nearly $3 million to improve food safety

    Three Michigan State University researchers landed grants totaling nearly $3 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to improve food safety; the three professors are part of the recently created MSU Food Safety Group; this team comprises about thirty MSU researchers from more than ten departments working with other universities around the world to improve food safety

  • Safe farm practices initiative launched

    Ever since 2006, when a deadly batch of spinach killed three people and sickened hundreds, U.S. farm producers, packers, and others along the distribution line have argued over how best to protect consumers and assure them that leafy greens and tomatoes are safe; now, a major initiative aims to settle these arguments

  • Five years after E.coli outbreak, California farmers still struggling

    Farmers in Salinas Valley, California, the “salad bowl of the United States,” are still struggling to regain consumers’ trust five years after spinach grown and bagged on a local farm was linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak that killed three people and sickened 206

  • Quickly and accurately tracing food-borne outbreaks

    Researchers have developed a new technique that could pinpoint the exact nature and origin of food-borne bacteria with unprecedented accuracy