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The objectives of this project fall into two overarching categories: evaluating potential climate change effects on Pacific Northwest (PNW) agriculture (i.e., what can be produced in a changing climate for the tremendously varied microclimates in the PNW), and developing local expertise to examine food safety issues that pertain to locally produced foods. <P>For the FY09 version of this Special Research Grant, we received progress reports from the four projects and updated objectives. Project 1, "Improving Drought Stress Tolerance in Wheat with Integrated Breeding, Physiology and Molecular Genetics," has an added objective to perform phenotypic and marker analysis to start marking the actual genes we are interested in. In addition, we will have lines to put in advanced tests to compare to existing lines and determine how much progress we are making.<P> Project 2, "Innovative Antimicrobial Aerosolization System to Control Foodborne Pathogens during Storage and Transportation of Vegetables and Fruits," will evaluate organic acids and acidic electrolyzed water (AC-EW) to control food borne pathogens during food processing, storage, and transportation using aerosolization. <P>Project 3, "Food Security in Washington State - Evaluating New Control and Detection Methods for Pathogens in Ready-To-Eat (RTE) Foods," is expanding packaging and processing methods to prevent Listeria sp. contamination of aquatic foods to continue this work evaluating other edible films and coating systems. <P>Project 4, "Developing Innovative Packaging for Advanced Processing Technologies to Insure the Integrity and Safety of Processed Foods," is adding three new objectives: (a) to study the influence of PATP and MW processing on the water vapor transmission rate, oxygen transmission rate, morphology, and thermal properties of the polymer-based multilayer packaging films during a storage period of one year; (b) to develop and evaluate a unique 9-layered packaging structure made of polypropylene, nylon, and ethylene vinyl alcohol with a tie layer between each of the layers for Pressure Assisted Thermal Processing (PATP) and microwave sterilization processing; and (c) to study the release kinetics of the antimicrobial nisin from the biodegradable Ecoflex film at different time intervals and different temperatures.
Non-Technical Summary: Climate change is predicted to create the need for new cropping systems as weather patterns alter the historic rainfall and temperature patterns across the globe. In the PNW, the eastern portion of Washington and Oregon and the northern portion of Idaho have been noted as an area with exceptionally productive cereal production despite relying on naturally provided moisture. Some predictions for change in climate suggest that the historic patterns of rainfall will change, probably becoming more episodic, which will lead to the need for both more drought-resistant cereals and for varieties that are more flexible in their use among winter and spring, wet and dry conditions. Project 1 researches this issue. Climate change, transportation fuel costs, and societal preferences are reinforcing the growing public sentiment to consume locally produced fruits, vegetables, seafood, etc. Timeless arguments for national security have included the need for food security as an important element. Among the challenges of more locally produced foods is the need to preserve them in a near fresh-like condition and to do so with little or no microbiological risk. It is in support of this theme that the three remaining sub-projects are included in this Special Grant. <P> Approach: Drought-Tolerant Wheat: the best-performing seed from selected F2 to F4 plants will be backcrossed to Louise and Hollis, replanted, and self-fertilized to generate BC1-F2 families from rows showing the best potential. Drought-resistant facultative wheats will continue to be bred and backcrossed to adapted winter wheat lines if they have quality, disease, or other production problems. Drought-resistance tests will continue at the Lind Research Station. Food Safety I: Organic acids, though registered for use on organic fruits and vegetables, generally produce only moderate reduction of pathogens when applied as dips or sprays. However, our interest in evaluating these compounds is due to the potential for improved efficacy due to enhanced penetration of aerosols. We wish to also evaluate acidic electrolyzed water (AC-EW) as a potential compound for aerosolized application. AC-EW can be generated on site from water and ordinary table salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) or muriate of potash (potassium chloride, KCl). AC-EW is an effective sanitizer on a variety of fresh produce. Since AC-EW is effective as a conventional produce wash, AC-EW potentially may be dramatically efficacious at controlling pathogens on produce when aerosolized; thus our great interest in including AC-EW in our study. Food Safety II: We propose to continue evaluating other edible films and coating systems. Controlled atmosphere packaging studies are underway. Objective 2 is also progressing; preliminary studies show that injured Listeria sp. cells can be detected by FTIR that have been subjected to pH and ionic stress. Food Packaging: A multilayer flexible packaging with different structures will be obtained from polymer-processing companies. The integrity of packages will be tested under Pressure Assisted Thermal Processing (PATP) and microwave sterilization conditions. The packaging will be subjected to PATP and microwave sterilization processing and subsequently it will be stored for one year. The changes in mechanical, barrier, structural and thermal properties of packaging will be determined at regular intervals to determine their influence on the shelf life of packaged foods. The properties of biodegradable packaging will be improved by incorporating antimicrobials in polymer matrices. The factors influencing release of antimicrobials will be determined and kinetics of release will be modeled using physics based models.