PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION June 26, 2014 Newport Beach, California PMA Fresh Connections: Food Safety An Insiders Guide to CPS 2014 Research Turning Information Into Knowledge

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Agricultural Water Complex Issue Key Produce Safety & FSMA Issue CPS Issue Brief Available Preventive Controls: Monitoring Treatment Application to Harvest Interval Understanding & Predicting Water Microbial Quality

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Safe & Sustainable Water – Taking Care of a Vital Resource! Water is a precious resource!!!! (especially out west) How to Safely: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle?

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Agricultural Water - Monitoring Low quantities of Salmonella can be found in water samples collected from irrigation ponds in the Southeast. (Wright & Vellidis) Low correlation between Salmonella and indicators. (Wright) Low correlation between indicators and STEC (Critzer) Bank sampling represents overall pond water quality. (Vellidis)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Agricultural Water - Treatment Zero Valent Iron (ZVI) Not right for every situation, but a useful tool to reduce contaminated irrigation water. (Kniel) Evaluation of multiple disinfection methods to mitigate the risk of produce contamination by irrigation water. (Buchanan, University of Tennessee – Work in Progress)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Ag Water - Application to Harvest Interval Survival of generic E. coli and Salmonella during water cessation, curing & harvesting of bulb onions. (Waite-Cusic)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Agricultural Water – Understanding & Predicting Microbial Quality Low numbers of Salmonella found in SE irrigation ponds. (Wright & Vellidis) <50% of Salmonella strains wildlife-associated. (Wright) Surface runoff is more frequently positive for Salmonella and E. coli than ponds. (Vellidis) STEC relatively stable in pond until large rain event (2+ inches) (Critzer) How do pathogens and indicators partition in rivers, lakes, ponds and canals? (Gibson) QMRA: Is there an App for that? (Rock)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment QMRA  QMRA ≠ Industry Risk Assessment = Hazard Analysis  QMRA: Risk Characterization= Probability of adverse health consequences Severity of adverse health consequences René François Magritte

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment QMRA Pathogen Exposure Initial Dose: How many? Prevalence: How often? Change in Dose: Do pathogens grow/die off? Consumption: Serving Size, Frequency, Demographic? Example Pathogen partitioning in ag water after a rainfall event? (Gibson)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Transference to Produce – Ag Water Can splash from overhead sprinkler irrigation systems contaminate produce? (Vellidis) o Work in progress but seem directly proportional to distance from the ground. Does drip irrigation prevent contamination? (Critzer) o Drip Bare Ground (20%) vs Drip Plasticulture (12%)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Transference to Produce – Wild Animals White tail deer: 2% E. coli O157:H7 prevalence in ME. (Wu) Pathogen dispersal occurred more in riparian corridors. Pathogen dispersal and prevalence were greater in more forested landscape. Deer are much more important than birds. (Wiedmann)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Transference to Produce – Animals Wild rodents are Salmonella vectors but not STEC’s in SW. (Jay Russell) Terrestrial Animals (feedlot cattle, feral pigs, javelina) are more likely reservoirs of Salmonella and STEC than birds. (Jay-Russell) Nut Orchard Gradient (prior to harvest) from adjacent poultry and calf operations but infrequent isolation of Salmonella (Harris)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Transference to Produce – Soil Amendments Salmonella has increased thermal resistance in partially composted (desiccated) chicken litter. (Jiang) One size fits all approach to thermal processing chicken litter won’t work. Must consider materials used: Age (Fresh vs Aged) Composition Moisture Content

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Transference to Produce – Postharvest Low Salmonella prevalence in raw pistachios but elevated prevalence in floater stream (Harris) Narrow range of Serovars ≈ possible resident population (possible post-hulling contamination) Wood vs Plastic Fruit Storage Bins & Cleanability (Killinger)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Postharvest Interventions Thermal inactivation of pathogens on cantaloupe surfaces is possible but may cause rind scald (variety and maturity dependent (Suslow) Ozone can be used to control postharvest cross contamination from wash water (Suslow) Direct measures of wash water antimicrobial oxidative stress are possible (Nitin)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Testing: Attention Please Whole Genome Sequencing A New Gold Standard What is it? What can it do? Why should I care? Rapid Testing (Ge) Better Faster Cheaper Validation Surrogate (Teplitski)

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Conclusions Networking Adding to a body of knowledge. Leads to informed decisions. o Company Food Safety Plans o Industry Guidance o Regulations Leads to fewer produce safety concerns. Next Steps o Integrating CPS Learnings into Action

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Converting Research into Food Safety Practices : Understanding Education Planning Validation Implementation Verification

PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION Thank You Bob Whitaker Jim Gorny Johnna Hepner Cyndi Neal