REFORMATTING GRAS INGREDIENTS AS ANTIMICROBIAL MATERIALS

AEMS Corp will integrate Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) organic acids into novel antimicrobial coatings to prevent cross-contamination of deadly pathogens in food processing facilities. Our methodology to reformat GRAS ingredients into modular delivery vehicles will preserve the powerful antimicrobial activity of organic acids and enable their use as food-safe coatings. Successful research will produce low-cost, non-toxic coatings that prevent the spread of pathogenic bacteria and improve food safety in U.S. processing facilities. A successful project is marked by the completion of the following Goals:Discover and optimize GRAS-based sanitizing materials. We will perform a wide sweep of GRAS ingredients to discover which combinations are capable of forming viable coating materials through AEMS Corp's unique synthesis and methodology. Objective 1.1 is to identify viable candidate sanitizing materials through robotic screening. During Objective 1.2, we will optimize the mechanical and antimicrobial properties of candidate materials to create sanitizing coatings. In Objective 1.3, we will validate the antimicrobial activity of the sanitizing coatings against E. coli O157:H7.Evaluate optimized materials in simulated industrial conditions. We will perform studies under simulated industrial conditions to show the family of materials we will create during Goal 1 will be capable of serving the needs of the food processing industry. During Objective 2.1, we will test the antimicrobial activity of our sanitizing coatings formatted as thin films to understand how film formation changes the activity of our materials. We extend this work in Objective 2.2 by performing cross-contamination studies under simulated industrial conditions. During this study we will directly measure our material's ability to prevent pathogen transfer from infected foods to facility surfaces.