This $299,322 Project Grant award to Auburn University was issued by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310). The objective is to determine the impact of antimicrobial use (AMU) in poultry production on microbial diversity, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, and horizontal gene transfer in the environment. The research will compare AMR levels and animal health outcomes between antimicrobial-free...
This $623,828 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund research to develop and test a risk-based strategy for reducing Salmonella contamination in broiler chickens. The University of Georgia Research Foundation will screen broiler flocks before slaughter to assess Salmonella levels and identify specific serotypes most concerning for human health. Flocks will be...
This federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program aims to enhance food safety by developing and evaluating antimicrobial surface coatings for food contact surfaces. The $299,917 award, effective January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026, will enable Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) to (1) create practical nanofabrication...
This $849,680 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at the University of Georgia Research Foundation to mitigate foodborne pathogen risk in leafy greens. Working with sub-awardees The Pennsylvania State University, USDA Agricultural Research Service Pacific West Area, and Kanvas Biosciences, Inc., the researchers aim to spatially...
This $300,000 Project Grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310). The objective is to develop and implement effective mitigation strategies at the production level to limit Salmonella colonization in chickens and reduce the transmission of Salmonella to poultry products and humans. The grant will fund research to evaluate the efficacy of combining...
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $621,095.04 Project Grant to Texas A&M Agrilife Research through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program. The grant will fund development of a novel mathematical model to validate pathogen control in fermented, dried sausages of varying sizes. The model will comprehensively account for changes in sausage physicochemical characteristics under commercial conditions. It will be tested in...
Purdue University was awarded a $717,806 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program. The three-year award running from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2026 will fund research to develop dry surface biofilm models of foodborne pathogens Cronobacter sakazakii, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella enterica. Purdue University will evaluate current sanitation...
Purdue University received a $601,000 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) to study the microbial ecology and mechanisms underlying spoilage and growth of foodborne pathogens in meat products. The primary objectives are to characterize the biochemical changes and microbial communities that develop during muscle-specific aging of beef products, and identify key metabolites in...
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $498,178 Project Grant to Cleveland State University from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program (CFDA No. 10.310). The grant will fund research from June 2023 through May 2026 to build tools using experimental data and mathematical models to predict the dynamics of Salmonella and Campylobacter pathogen transfer and survival during poultry processing scalding, chilling, and post-chill stages. The research...
The University of California, Davis will receive $610,766 under a three-year Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The grant is part of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The university will define new control options for non-culturable foodborne pathogens like Salmonella and Listeria. Researchers will investigate how genome diversity, gene expression regulation, and induced evolution...
This $648,627 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund research at Auburn University from June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2027.
The grant will support research to better understand the microbial communities within meat processing facility biofilms and their potential impacts on food safety. Specifically, the university will collect biofilm samples from drains in small meat processing facilities across Alabama and the Southeast U.S. Using DNA and RNA sequencing technologies, the researchers will identify the microorganisms present in the biofilms, their functions, and how their activities change in response to the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. This work aims to develop an early-warning system to detect Listeria growth potential before colonization and ultimately decrease risks of pathogen contamination and associated food recalls.