Detection and Fate of Chemical and Biological Residues in Food and Environmental

Objective 1: Develop and (or) validate sensitive and accurate analytical tools to rapidly detect and quantify chemicals in food animals, food animal products, or other foods. Sub-objective 1.A: Validate the usefulness of rapid screening tests in ante-mortem matrices (urine, plasma, serum, saliva, milk, etc.) for predicting post-mortem tissue residues and(or) animal exposures to target compounds. Sub-objective 1.B: Develop and validate on-site detection methods for new and emerging xenobiotic residues. Objective 2: Investigate the kinetics of uptake, metabolism, distribution, and (or) the elimination of chemicals in and from food animals and (or) produce with the goal of reducing public exposure to chemical residues in foods. Sub-objective 2.A: Determine the effect of mediators of inflammation on drug metabolizing enzymes, drug clearance, and violative residues in food animals using flunixin meglumine as a model compound. Sub-objective 2.B: Determine the fate and distribution of chlorine dioxide gas in foods treated for pathogen or rot-organism remediation. Objective 3: Determine the fate of endogenous reproductive hormones, antibiotics, and or other chemicals, including biologically-active metabolites or degradation products in wastes of food animal or in food processing systems. Sub-objective 3A: Determine the partitioning of chemical residues into cream, curd, whey, and water fractions during milk processing. Sub-objective 3B: Determine the fate of estrogens in animal wastewater systems.