Contributing Investigators:
John D. Flores (PI),
Stephen J. Knabe, R.C. Anantheswaran, Hassan Gourama, Stephanie Doores,
Thomas R. Palchak, Ronald S. Kensinger, Robert F. Roberts, Joseph
Irudayaraj, Chitrita Deb Roy, Lorraine M. Sordillo, Bhushan M. Jayarao
Objectives:
Although
relatively rare, contamination of milk and dairy products has occurred
in the past with devastating consequences for public health and the
dairy industry. Control of new and emerging hazards relies on
detecting, tracking and controlling them before they reach the
consumer. Therefore, the objectives of this project are: 1) To quantify
the concentration of estradiol-17B in milk and dairy products and
estimate the average intake of this potentially cancer-causing hormone
by Americans of different ages; 2) To screen bulk tank milk samples for
the presence of pathogenic strains of Staphylococcus aureus and
determine the frequency of enterotoxin-producing strains of this
pathogen; 3) To optimize real-time biosensor methods for detecting
bacterial pathogens in milk and dairy products and to develop
gene-array methods that can be integrated into HACCP systems; 4) To
develop and optimize a Multi-Virulence-Gene Sequence Typing method for
molecular fingerprinting of Listeria monocytogenes and use this method
in dairy processing plants to identify and eliminate routes of
transmission; 5) To evaluate a short pre-pasteurization heat processing
step to destroy spore-forming pathogens during subsequent
pasteurization of milk and identify microorganisms before and after
filling in order to develop strategies to reduce post-pasteurization
contamination and 6) To evaluate the synergistic effects of mild heat
treatments and high-pressure processing (HPP) on destruction of
milk-borne pathogens and to understand and utilize interactions between
intrinsic and extrinsic factors to reduce or prevent the growth of
pathogens in mold-ripened soft cheeses made from HPP-treated milk.
