HACCP ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL AND VERY SMALL MEAT PROCESSORS: CHALLENGE STUDIES AND PREDICTIVE MODELING FOR VALIDATION OF CRITICAL LIMITS

This collaborative project will integrate applied research in three areas: short-term temperature abuse of uncooked meat and poultry products, slow-cooking and/or fermentation of meat and poultry products, and low-heat processing of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, with extension to meet four project objectives: 1) to meet Critical Limit validation needs of meat and poultry processors by performing lab and pilot plant-based challenge studies; 2) to provide challenge study validation of computer-gernerated predictive models of pathogen growth in meat and poultry products; 3) to develop computer-generated predictive models of pathogen growth in meat and poultry products; and 4) to develop outreach materials that widely disseminate the results of challenge studies and predictive models to various groups: to meat and poultry processors for use in validation and verification of HACCP plans, to industry groups and extension specialists for use in training and to state
and federal regulators.