Two Cornell food scientists have received $1.67 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent health hazards as fresh fruits and vegetables travel from farm to fork. The project aims to prevent food-borne pathogens from contaminating food during growing, processing, transport and preparation.

"We want to identify the critical points or factors that present high risks for produce contamination," said Randy Worobo, associate professor of food microbiology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. The research team, led by Worobo and Martin Wiedmann, associate professor of food science at Cornell's Ithaca campus, will focus on preventive methods rather than eliminating pathogens once produce is contaminated. The project includes applied research, outreach and education components.

"The project is a multidisciplinary, collaborative effort among scientists from several institutions and states," Worobo added.

The grant, awarded by the USDA's National Integrated Food Safety Initiative, will allow the research team to examine all of the practices and procedures used by every component of the food industry. Food can be contaminated by the practices of the livestock farmer, the produce grower, processors, retail and food service operations, and the consumer -- or even as the goods are in transit.

Worobo in particular will focus on how pathogens contaminate produce in production and post-harvest handling practices. He also will be involved in developing and delivering outreach and extension materials, based on the team's findings, for farmers, processing plants, retail, food service and consumers.

"The greatest challenges will be collecting all the research findings and condensing them into recommendations and guidance for different target audiences," Worobo said.

Improving food safety is critical in the United States, where 76 million cases of food-borne disease occur annually, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Most cases are mild and cause symptoms for a day or two, but some illnesses result in hospitalization or even death. The severe cases tend to occur in the very old, the very young, those who are immunocompromised and in healthy people who are exposed to very high doses of an organism.

Pathogens can contaminate produce through fecal-contaminated water sources on the farm, from wildlife, during processing and shipping, at retail outlets or through unsafe food preparation by consumers.

The Cornell faculty members on the project are: Kathryn Boor, professor of food science; Carmen Moraru, assistant professor of food science; Betsy Bihn, National Good Agricultural Practices program coordinator and senior extension associate for food science; Lorin Warnick, associate dean, College of Veterinary Medicine; and Olga Padilla-Zakour, associate professor of food science and technology.

Other collaborators are from the University of Florida, University of California-Davis, Texas Tech University, West Texas A&M University and Michigan State University.

Marissa Fessenden '09 is a former intern with CALS Communications.