SBIR Phase II: Rapid Detection of Pathogens in Manufacturing Trimmings

SBIR第二期项目的更广泛影响将是减少食品安全实验室检测供人类食用肉类的时间。该项目旨在减少受污染肉类造成的食物浪费和食源性疾病，并减少因冷藏和储存变质肉类产品而产生的二氧化碳。该项目旨在开发一种可以检测肉制品中有害细菌的技术，为认证和商业化做好准备。该项目可以较低的成本实施食品安全监测测试。它可能会改善食品安全，节省数十亿美元的召回费用，并降低食品生产的持有成本。将碎牛肉提前一天送到零售商的货架上可以减少50%的食物浪费。由于牛肉的生产是能源密集型的，这种废物的减少每年可以节省数万亿加仑的水，并防止数十亿磅的甲烷和温室气体的排放。美国病原体检测的潜在市场总额估计接近100亿美元，复合年增长率为6%。该项目旨在减少食品安全实验室检测牛肉切屑致病菌所需的时间。本研究和开发第二阶段项目的目标是简化第一阶段开发的快速病原体富集技术，并集成新的仪器和工具，以创建一个高通量的实验室环境。将优化机械微滤方法和培养程序，进一步探索酶处理方法，简化物理操作的方便性和方法的一致性，以用于商业应用。一种低成本、官方分析化学家协会（AOAC）认可的方法将在6小时内可靠地检测375克trim中1个菌落形成单位（CFU）的致病菌，比目前最先进的方法节省12小时或更多时间。一旦获得认证，富集技术可能会出售给高产量的肉类生产商，他们需要在一个8小时的轮班内得到结果，以简化物流，减少冷藏，并降低食品病原体爆发的风险。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase II project will be a reduction in the time for food safety laboratories to test meat for human consumption. The project seeks to reduce food waste and food-borne illnesses resulting from contaminated meat, as well to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) produced as a result of refrigeration and storage of spoiled meat products. This project aims to develop a technology ready for accreditation and commercialization that will detect harmful bacteria in meat products. This project may allow for the implementation of food safety monitoring tests at a lower cost. It may create an improvement in food safety, saving billions of dollars in recalls and reducing holding costs of food production. The ability to get ground beef to retailers’ shelves a day earlier can reduce food waste in ground beef by 50%. As beef is energy-intensive to produce, this waste reduction could save trillions of gallons of water and prevent the release of billions of pounds of methane and greenhouse gases every year. The US total addressable market for pathogen testing is estimated at nearly $10 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 6%. This project aims to reduce the time it takes for food safety laboratories to test beef trimmings for pathogenic bacteria. The objective for this research and development Phase II project is to streamline the rapid pathogen enrichment technology developed in Phase I and to integrate new instrumentation and tools to create a high-throughput laboratory setting. The mechanical microfiltration methods and incubation procedures will be optimized, enzymatic treatments will be explored further, and the ease of physical operation and consistency of the method will be streamlined for commercial use. A low-cost, Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) accredited process capable of reliably detecting 1 colony forming unit (CFU) of pathogenic bacteria in 375 g of trim within 6 hours will be created - saving 12 or more hours over current state-of-the-art methods. Once accredited, the enrichment technology may be sold to high-throughput meat producers, who need results within a single 8-hour shift to streamline logistics, reducing cold storage, and lessening food pathogen outbreak risks.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.