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Food Chemistry 2018
Journal of Food, Nutrition and Population Health
ISSN: 2577-0586
Page 87
July 23-24, 2018
Rome, Italy
3
rd
Edition of International Conference on
Agriculture &
Food Chemistry
J Food Nutr Popul Health 2018, Volume 2
DOI: 10.21767/2577-0586-C2-006
I
rrigation water has been recognized by the US FDA Food
Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) as a major route of produce
contamination at pre-harvest. There is a critical need for new and
improved control strategies and to evaluate their effectiveness
in reducing microbial hazards in irrigation water, as affected by
irrigation method, produce commodity and weather conditions.
We have conducted controlled intervention trials in cantaloupes
and spinach to determine effectiveness of FSMA mitigation
options based on the microbial die-off post irrigation, and to
test the effectiveness of two strategies for treatment of surface
water to keep generic
Escherichia coli
levels under the regulatory
thresholds. The two treatments are ultra-violet (UV) radiation and
a novel treatment, which takes advantage of the widespread use
of sulfuric acid based fertilizers (SA-fertilizer) in produce growing.
The preliminary results indicated that, compared to the no-
treatment control (NO), both UV and SA treatments were effective
in reducing contamination of water with (i) generic
E. coli
that
naturally occurred in water used for irrigation and (ii) inoculated
Rifampicin-Resistant (RifR)
E. coli
, and the microbial reduction
was evident both in the tank water, just before irrigation, and in
the irrigation water in the produce field, and both in cantaloupe
and spinach trials.
april.englishbey@ttu.eduDissemination and the fate of foodborne pathogens and
indicators on produce post irrigation with surface water: an
intervention trial
April Englishbey
Texas Tech University, USA