The Norwalk virus is the leading cause of food borne illness in the world today. It was discovered in an Ohio town that gave this virus its infamous name. We seek to build upon one of the nation’s leading laboratories in human and animal norovirus in the Food Animal Health Research Program. Three of the FAHRP faculty members are courtesy members of the FST department. More important, we seek to leverage our good track record of collaboration into an excellent center of food safety and food security collaboration.
The citizens of Ohio benefit directly from food and pharmaceutical packaging that does not allow intentional, malicious or inadvertent contamination. Unlike the plastic shrink wrap often found on screw enclosures, the color change cap technology developed in this proposal cannot be easily counterfeited or bypassed. The Center for Food Safety & Agrosecurity will help identify the value of this technology to the Ohio consumer, and optimize its use for food packaging. When this is accomplished the industrial package manufacturers, OARDC and inventors may forge an CFSA-brokered intellectual property agreement that allows commercialization.
The citizens of Ohio benefit directly from a fresh whole egg free of harm. In 1999, the USDA, the FDA, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the Center for Disease Control developed the U.S. Egg Safety Action Plan which identifies systems that must be implemented to reduce and eliminate eggs as a source of Salmonella illness. The plan requires processors ensure the elimination of Salmonella enteriditis. The plan specifies outbreaks of Salmonellosis from shell eggs must be cut in half by 2005, and completely eliminated by 2010. This Center for Food Safety & Agrosecurity may be critical to both deadlines.
Salmonellae of various types are commonly found in animals and are therefore transferred to food products. Salmonella enteriditis is the most problematic for humans. Originally, this contamination was believed to occur when organisms passed through the shell of the egg, but recent research indicates that trans-ovarian contamination occurs from Salmonella infected hens, at the rate of one egg per 20,000 produced in the U.S. It is estimated that more than three million Salmonella contaminated eggs are sold each year in the U.S.
Scientists in the Department of Food Science and Technology has invented a technique to eliminate Salmonella in shell eggs. Combining heat, ozone, and ultraviolet light, Professor Ahmed Yousef achieves the critical 5-log reduction– the critical level to be considered free of danger. The research was sponsored by EggTech, LLC who was granted an exclusive license by OSURF. EggTech and OSURF in turn have granted an exclusive license to EISC to develop and market a production system that is economical.
The goal for CFSA is to join and support existing partners to bring safe eggs to Ohio markets. We can finalize development and begin manufacture and sale of a system to produce shell eggs that are free of Salmonella and other pathogens. The system uses the breakthrough technology developed and patented here. A huge competitive advantage is the ability to produce eggs without protein coagulation nor any undesirable qualities that result from the less desirable heat processes.
Ohio will achieve economic benefits in several areas, including:
• Royalty income from the patent, a portion of which will be reinvested in further food safety technology development for Ohio processors.
• Income generated through the production and marketing of equipment by an Ohio-based manufacturer.
• Ohio's egg producers have first access, enabling capture of a new market for safe eggs required by hospitals, nursing homes, and other food service markets.
“For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do" - Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services• Vitalization of the State's technology sector, created by the commercialization of a unique process with national and international demand.
• Exports of a superior product meeting regulatory classifications of Canada and other countries abroad.
• Food service demands for a safe and secure product that opens new menu opportunities involving raw egg ingredients.