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<ol> <li>Develop molecular-based methods to detect, quantitate, and characterize Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, and Yersinia in livestock and their environment<li>Delineate the ecology of these foodborne pathogens in livestock and their environment and develop effective intervention strategies to reduce their transmission; and <li>Determine risk factors by correlating on-farm management practices with the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in livestock.</ol>
Second-generation PCR assays will be developed to detect and quantitate bacterial foodborne pathogens. Pathogen prevalence in the environment and in animals will be assessed on commercial operations. The systems approach to the farm and environment will be implemented. Inputs into the systems (feed, water, air, and seedstock) will be correlated with system outputs (market hogs, solid waste, manure management, lagoon, runoff water, etc.) for each production phase. Analysis of field isolates will indicate if different ecological niches harbor distinctive pathogen types. Case-control studies of pathogen contamination of animals exposed to various on-farm management practices as well as lairage and transportation experiences will be conducted. The relative risk of management practices will be calculated by multivariate logistic regression, comparing case and control premises.