The Center for Produce Safety has funded 10 new research projects, valued at just over $2.7 million. The funded principal investigators hail from research organizations in five U.S. states as well as Spain, according to a news release.
Nine projects were awarded funding via CPS’ annual call for research proposals, which identified top industry science priorities, the release said. CPS says this cycle’s projects are designed to answer questions on topics evaluating and mitigating risks associated with waxing roller brushes, enteric viruses, agricultural water subpart E, and more. The research focuses on whole and fresh-cut produce, field and packinghouses, though CPS findings often apply to the fresh produce supply chain, the release said.
To ensure the resulting science best meets the industry’s needs, researchers’ proposals were first vetted and refined by CPS Technical Committee members and other expert volunteers, according to the release. These projects began in January and will be completed within one to two years, CPS said.
“These timely new research projects were made possible by the generosity of industry contributors to CPS’ Campaign for Research and grants from state Specialty Crop Block Grant Programs in California, Florida, Texas and Washington, all of whom are committed to enhancing fresh produce food safety,” Joe Pezzini, chair of CPS’ volunteer board of directors and senior director of ag operations for Taylor Farms, said in the release. “Without their support, CPS couldn’t succeed in our mission to fund science, find solutions and fuel change in produce safety.”
In addition to the nine projects awarded through the annual grant process, CPS awarded funding to one special project, “Tri-State Special Project on Harvest Equipment: A data-informed consensus of ‘clean for the intended purpose.’” CPS said it funds special projects when an urgent industry need arises between annual grant cycles.
The project is led by the University of Arizona’s Channah Rock and Michelle Danyluk of the University of Florida. It began November 2023 and will end with a final presentation at the 2024 CPS Research Symposium, according to the release.
Researchers present progress reports and final findings to industry and other produce safety stakeholders at the annual CPS symposium. The organization said it will also share project statuses and final findings through various knowledge transfer activities, including CPS emails conveying research updates and trade media articles.
CPS’ research program is made possible by funds provided by the center’s campaign contributors and Specialty Crop Block Grant programs from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Washington State Department of Agriculture, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Texas Department of Agriculture.
Grant recipients
All projects will begin in January 2024, according to the release:
- Alejandro Castillo, Ph.D., Texas A&M Agrilife Research: “Control of Listeria monocytogenes on avocado and avocado contact surfaces during dry packing by acetogenins naturally present in avocado seed.”
- Xuetong Fan, Ph.D., USDA Agricultural Research Service: “Survival of pathogens on work-in-process fresh-cut produce ingredients.”
- Kristen Gibson, Ph.D., University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture: “Evaluation of sanitation protocols for nonconventional food-contact surface materials used in produce packinghouses.”
- Susana Guix, Ph.D., University of Barcelona: “Improving methods for the assessment of infectious human enteric virus survival in produce.”
- Nitin Nitin, Ph.D., University of California, Davis: “Synergistic antimicrobial activity of food-grade compounds in wax coatings on fruits during wax drying.”
- Alda Pires, Ph.D., University of California, Davis: “Developing a user-friendly risk assessment tool to assess the food safety risks of fresh produce production and landscape use.”
- Channah Rock, Ph.D., University of Arizona: “Development of a risk ranking tool for evaluating hazards and risks related to agricultural water subpart E.”
- Matthew Stasiewicz, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: “Testing wetting agents for soil drag and bootie swabs and validating them in varied agricultural soils.”
- Luxin Wang, Ph.D., University of California, Davis: “Characterization and mitigation of food safety risks associated with waxing roller brushes.”
- Channah Rock, Ph.D., Michelle Danyluk, Ph.D. (special project): “CPS Tri-State Project on Harvest Equipment: A data-informed consensus of ‘clean for the intended purpose.’”
All annual research awards can be found on the CPS Funded Research Projects webpage.
