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Supply of high quality and safe food is one of the critical priorities of our nation. Intelligent quality sensors based on advanced sensing techniques/sensors systems show potential to be used for providing critical quality information about food and agricultural products. These, sensors, however, need to be cost-effective, non-destructive and portable to be used with food products. Thus, a multidisciplinary team of engineers and scientists from North Dakota State University have launched research efforts with a long-term goal for developing miniaturized portable sensors to provide quality information to users about specific food products. This project deals with spoilage and contamination of beef as well as grain (barley) quality. This project primarily focuses on identification of indicator and validation compounds associated with meat spoilage and contamination with Salmonella. Subsequent characterization of detectors of E-nose modules and development of a combination of detectors for identifications of indicator compounds (or their mixture) are also emphasized. Parallel secondary thrust has been provided on grain quality.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: According to an estimate of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), unsafe food causes 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year in the U.S. Nearly five million cases of illness and four thousands deaths may be associated with meat and poultry products contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. Every year, CDC receives reports of 40,000 Salmonellosis. Thus, there is a strong need for developing rapid tests for food contaminations.Fusarium infection of small grains and mycotoxin have been a persistent problem for the Upper Midwest in recent years. Of special significance among these grains is barley, one of the most common grains used for malting. This project is based on the hypothesis that metabolic by-products are generated because of the metabolic activities of the microorganisms on food products. The gaseous metabolites can be used as an indicator for safety and quality of the food products. Artificial olfactory sensing systems such as electronic nose technology can be developed and adapted for sensing the gaseous metabolites. This project primarily focuses on identification of indicator and validation compounds associated with meat spoilage and contamination with Salmonella. Subsequent characterization of detectors of E-nose modules and development of a combination of detectors for identifications of indicator compounds (or their mixture) are also emphasized. Parallel investigations are also planned for identifying indicator compounds for mold growth and mycotoxin production in barley. <P>
APPROACH: This research project focuses on identifying indicator compounds associated with meat spoilage and contamination with Salmonella. We also plan to characterize individual detectors of electronic nose modules with the identified indicator compounds associated with meat spoilage and contamination. Subsequently, we will determine an optimum combination of detectors for identifying a mixture of indicator compounds associated with meat spoilage and contamination. Investigations will be conducted on devising techniques for miniaturization and integration of components of electronic nose modules. Parallel work will be conducted for identification of indicator compounds representing mold growth as indicators of spoilage and mycotoxins. Exploratory investigations will also be conducted for evaluating Langmuir-Blodgett films of Porphyrins for discriminating indicator compounds associated with meat spoilage, meat contamination and grain mold growth.