Mission:
The mission of the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory (EMFSL) is to: • characterize protozoan parasites (utilizing biological, chemical and molecular techniques) found in livestock manures and assess their transmission on and off of the farm; • characterize pathogenic enteric bacteria on dairy farms, their ecology, and routes of transmission within the dairy herd and to milk; • investigate the transport of pathogens from manure/feces via water and animal/insect vectors; • assess the introduction, dissemination, persistence and survival of saprophytic vs. pathogenic enteric bacteria during growth (including organic and conventional growing practices), harvest, postharvest handling and processing of fresh fruits and produce; and • develop rapid and sensitive methods for the identification of specific food-borne pathogens as well as rapid nondestructive sensing methods for the detection of biological and chemical contaminants on fresh fruits and produce and on food processing surfaces. • assess potential of plant-derived bioactive compounds in mitigating pathogen dissemination and virulence. These research areas are essential to understanding how pathogens are disseminated on farms, in the environment, and to food products, and to developing methods to detect, characterize and mitigate contamination to prevent foodborne illnesses.