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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory » Research » Research Project #448963
Research Project: Factors Affecting the Transfer of Bacterial and Viral Pathogens to Produce to Protect Food Safety and Security

Location: Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory

Project Number: 8042-42610-001-015-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 1, 2025
End Date: Aug 31, 2026

Objective:
To determine the survival and transfer dynamics of enteric foodborne pathogens in pre-harvest environments and their fate on field-grown fruit and vegetable commodities. This includes evaluating highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella isolates recovered or related previous outbreaks or isolated from irrigation water sources by USDA ARS.

Approach:
Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica isolates will be evaluated for their persistence in pre-harvest environments. This will include realistic agricultural environments, which includes soils containing biological amendments like cattle manure and poultry litter. Amendments will be evaluated for HPAI. Evaluated soils which contain organic amendments will beplanted with cucumbers to evaluate transfer of pathogens to cucumber fruits. Pathogens (E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, HPAI) will be evaluated in soils and on cucumbers.