Advancing Food Safety and Quality Through Innovative Partnerships

Food innovation centers in the U.S. offer facilities for food testing including technical assistance for marketing, business development, and regulation compliance. Therefore, they have adapted to meet specific processing needs by the food industry to create economic development. This dissertation is the result of funding from multiple sources to improve food safety in the area of validations and methods development. The first chapter focuses on technology transfer from universities as a resource for regional economic development and for the income of universities that generate connections between academia, industry and statewide economic development. The second chapter describes the establishment of the Nebraska Brewing Testing Laboratory (NBTL) to provide technical resources for small breweries in Nebraska. This project includes methods for identifying spoilage bacteria and yeasts for the purpose of providing routine analytical services. The third chapter targets the design of an inclusive detection method for the major Gram-negative foodborne pathogens of concern that may be present in dry food processing environments. The novelty of this procedure is the use of a single enrichment to reduce the number of samples required for an effective environmental monitoring program (EMP). The fourth chapter covers high pressure processing (HPP) as a technology currently being used for food safety and preservation. HPP inactivation kinetics of six strains each of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes during early stationary phase in ACES buffer were evaluated. Additionally, D values (minutes) were calculated for each of the most resistant strains (E.coli O157:H7 USDA FSIS 380-94, E.coli O157:H7ATCC® 35150™, E.coli O157:H7 E0019; Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC® 14028™; Listeria monocytogenes 110 ser ½ A, and Listeria monocytogenes 2 ser ½ A). In the fifth chapter, Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC® 14028™; and Listeria monocytogenes (110 ser ½ A and 2 ser ½ A) were used for model validation in orange juice with combinations of 450 and 500 MPa for 1 and 3 minutes with pH levels of 3.8 and 4.4. These equations will allow a comparison of the effect of pressure, time, and pH in the reduction (log10 CFU) of Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes