Location: Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit
Project Number: 6040-42440-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Mar 12, 2021
End Date: Mar 11, 2026
Objective:
1. Develop imaging technologies to detect and identify plastics during poultry processing with hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence.
1A. Develop hyperspectral imaging technology for detection and identification of plastic foreign objects during poultry processing.
1B. Develop AI technology for enhanced detection and smart robotic removal of foreign materials in hyperspectral imagery during poultry processing.
2. Detection and identification of foodborne bacteria and toxins in poultry products with high-throughput hyperspectral microscopy and surface plasmon resonance imaging.
2A. Rapid monitoring of indicator microorganisms in poultry processing.
2B. Develop advanced hyperspectral microscope imaging (HMI) methods and system for label-free detection and identification of pathogens at the cellular level with no enrichment.
2C. Develop high-sensitive and selective immunoassay method and system for foodborne bacteria and toxin detection with surface plasmon resonance imaging.
3. Eliminate the production of semicarbazide in non-nitrofurazone treated poultry by optimization of antimicrobial treatments and/or alternative antimicrobials during processing.
4. Develop safe and effective poultry processing strategies (scalding-picking-evisceration procedures) to reduce foodborne contaminants (pathogens/chemical) and enhance the sustainability of poultry processing.
4a. Develop sustainable poultry processing using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve poultry food safety.
4b. Develop Internet of Things (IoT) technology with various sensing platforms and data analytics for smart poultry processing and safety.
Approach:
Research on poultry safety will focus on: 1) developing and validating early, rapid, sensitive, and/or high-throughput optical sensing techniques for detecting physical and biological hazards in poultry products, and 2) eliminating semicarbazide in non-nitrofurazone treated poultry by optimization of antimicrobial treatments. In research on optical detection of physical hazards, spectroscopic and hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technologies will be developed for detection and identification of plastic foreign objects. A robot rejector and control software will be developed to eliminate foreign materials (FM) when detected by HSI. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be developed for enhanced detection and smart robotic removal of FM during poultry processing through the development and evaluation of customized deep learning algorithms based on hyperspectral imaging. A vision-guided smart robotic manipulator will be designed and built to remove FM by self-learning AI algorithms. To develop methods and techniques for detecting and identifying biological hazards, time-lapse image data on pure-culture indicator organisms and poultry carcass rinses from different processing locations will be collected to build a library, which will be used for on-line counting of microcolonies to build prototype systems. To detect foodborne pathogens, hyperspectral microscope imaging (HMI) methods will be developed with a spectral library of various pathogens using two HMI platforms of acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF) and Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). In accordance with optimization of parameters on HMI and hypercubes, a transportable HMI system will be developed embedded with AI-based software for classification and identification. To identify foodborne bacteria and toxins, a highly-sensitive and selective immunoassay method and system will be developed using surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi). Microfluidic devices will be designed, simulated and fabricated for bacterial enrichment and separation. Both materials and parameters to develop a 3D printed biosensor for multiplex detection of pathogenic bacteria and toxins will be optimized and evaluated with food samples. Finally, a portable 3D printing platform for biosensor fabrication by integrating sample enrichment cartridge, biochip and SPRi detector will be developed. To develop techniques for eliminating the production of semicarbazide (SEM) in non-nitrofurazone treated poultry, a methodology for SEM analysis in chicken meat and a data library relating poultry processing conditions to SEM formation will be developed. Specifically, SEM in chicken leg quarters obtained from multiple processing facilities will be analyzed and methods to eliminate SEM production in poultry products under processing conditions will be developed.
