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A team of researchers at CFS, led by director Francisco Diez, studied the potential uses of antimicrobial blue light to eliminate pathogens in manufacturing facilities. CAES News
World Food Safety Day
In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly established June 7 as World Food Safety Day to bring awareness of foodborne risks and “to celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food.” With 25 faculty members involved in food safety microbiology, the University of Georgia has one of the largest teams of food safety researchers of any university. Their research and collaboration efforts contribute to a growing body of knowledge that ensures producers and consumers have the latest information about food safety.
CAES virologist Malak Esseili has found that certain teas inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in saliva — in some cases by up to 99.9%. This matters because the virus infects and replicates inside the oral cavity, passing through the oropharynx before reaching the lungs. CAES News
COVID Tea
New research from the University of Georgia suggests that something as simple as a cup of tea can help in the fight against COVID-19. Tea has been renowned globally for its many health benefits, and Malak Esseili, a virologist with the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, wanted to know if it may also affect SARS-CoV-2.
Abhinav Mishra and colleagues in UGA's Department of Food Science and Technology will use risk assessment models to identify which environmental and farm practice factors contribute to the food safety risk of fresh, organic food. CAES News
Organic Food Safety
University of Georgia researchers in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are part of a $3.5 million grant designed to assist organic producers in meeting both National Organic Program standards and food safety requirements. UGA food scientists will survey farms in the Southeast to determine the risk of contamination in organic crops by different environmental pathogens.
cold brew coffee CAES News
Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee’s smooth taste, rich flavor and low acidity have made this trendy drink a global favorite no matter the weather. New research from the University of Georgia funded by the UGA Center for Food Safety looks into the possibility of cold brew coffee to pose a food safety hazard when it is contaminated with foodborne pathogens.
UGA Chapel (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA) CAES News
Signature Lecture Series
Internationally renowned scientists, preeminent philosophers and poets and influential leaders in government, higher education and several other fields will visit the University of Georgia this semester as part of the Signature Lecture Series. Speakers include two Nobel Prize-winning scientists, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and an acclaimed poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Carla Schwan is an assistant professor and UGA Extension food safety specialist in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA) CAES News
Carla Schwan
She didn’t realize it at the time, but Carla Schwan’s passion for food microbiology began in a hospital bed in rural Brazil. At just 12 years old, Schwan’s predicament began with what she originally thought was just a stomachache from an undercooked hamburger. When her condition worsened, doctors eventually realized she had ingested contaminated beef that led to a potentially lethal bacterial infection called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.
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Blue Light Study
Consider your favorite breakfast cereal, granola bar or other similar food, then imagine the production facility where it is made. If you picture large machines, conveyor belts and lots of moving parts, you get the gist of the environment. Keeping all these moving parts clean is of utmost concern to manufacturers, who spend considerable time and investment on food safety, making sure their production lines are free from harmful pathogens that may make consumers sick.
UGA virologist Malak Esseili (left) and graduate student Julianna Morris studied methods of inactivating SARS-CoV-2 on contaminated surfaces. CAES News
Testing Sanitizers
When the coronavirus pandemic first began in 2020, there was much that officials did not know about the virus and how to combat it. One area of concern was how to disinfect surfaces that were contaminated with SARS-CoV-2. Institutions such as schools and daycares especially needed to know how to clean high-touch surfaces to reduce the risk of infection.
UGA Center for Food Safety doctoral student Zhihan Xian theorized that testing the microbiome of foods could be a means of determining their source of origin. The results demonstrated that the food microbiome contains origin-specific information, giving the method potential as a useful tool in stopping origin fraud practices. (Photo by Jennifer Reynolds) CAES News
Testing for Life
Zhihan Xian’s innovative research into new methods of food origin tracing has been named this year’s winner of the Testing for Life Student Award by AOAC International, a nonprofit association that seeks to set standards of analysis to help ensure food safety globally. Xian, a doctoral student in food science at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, is on the leading edge of research of food origin authentication.
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Jim Ayres Award
University of Georgia Center for Food Safety doctoral student Jouman Hassan has been named the first-place winner of this year's Jim Ayres Young Investigator Award given by the Georgia Association for Food Protection. Hassan, whose doctoral advisor is Assistant Professor Issmat Kassem in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, obtained her master’s degree in food safety and microbiology from the American University of Beirut.