UI and WSU - Partnering for Progress
Building on more than a decade of partnership, the food science departments of the University of Idaho and Washington State University are joining forces to better serve students, consumers, and the food industry in the Pacific Northwest.
Here We Have Idaho, University of Idaho magazine, Fall 2008
Chronicle of Higher Education article, August 21
WSU Today article, August 14
Together, Working to Solve a Real-World Problem
FIT reduces Salmonella, Ecoli
By CAHNRS, WSU Extension, 7/2/2008
PULLMAN - Research conducted by food sciencists at the University of Idaho and WSU indicate that a commercially available fruit and vegetable wash, when used in a food-manufacturing setting, can dramatically decrease the number of disease-causing organisms in produce-processing washwater. That could reduce by many fold the potential for cross-contamination within the water by such “gram-negative” bacteria as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7.
The product, sold commercially as FIT Fruit and Vegetable Wash, not only proved much more effective than the commonly used chlorine dioxide but is made from ingredients like citric acid and distilled grapefruit oil that are generally regarded as safe. Chlorine dioxide, whose use in food plants can put workers at risk, was compromised by soils and plant debris in the washwater and killed only 90 percent of the target organisms in the food plant and followup laboratory studies. By contrast, FIT killed 99.9999 percent, according to associate professor of food science Dong-Hyun Kang of WSU. “If you had a million bacteria, you would have one left.”
The research--unusual because part of it was conducted under real-world conditions in an Idaho freshpack potato operation--will be published by the Journal of Food Science in August. University of Idaho Extension food scientist Jeff Kronenberg said the researchers chose potatoes for their study because their dirt-laden washwater poses the greatest challenge to products designed to control microbial contamination--not because of any food-safety threat potatoes pose. Indeed, Kronenberg said, “We have historically had zero problems with food-borne diseases in potatoes that are sold in grocery stores and restaurants because they’re cooked.”
Kronenberg believes FIT should be further investigated for fresh produce that has been associated with food-borne illness--including lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley and other leafy vegetables--where it is has the potential to save lives.
According to Kang, most food-processing firms cleanse their produce in flumes that operate as aquatic conveyor belts. “If a pathogen is introduced in the washwater, it will grow and continuously contaminate the new produce,” he said. With 15 years of experience, Kang has found it “very, very difficult” to control disease-causing organisms in flume water and said he “didn’t expect this kind of reduction. I’m really happy to see it.”
WSU research technologist Peter Gray agreed, noting that the bacteria were “knocked down below the detection limit almost instantaneously” in the FIT treatments.
More information about Fit Fruit and Vegatable Wash
Welcome!
We are eager assist you in your educational goals.
We have excellent teaching and research facilities, including a Human Metabolic Unit, a modern processing pilot plant and the WSU Creamery, home of the world famous COUGAR GOLD cheese.
The Food Science degree is an IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) approved program and is taught in conjunction with the University of Idaho faculty from the Department of Food Science and Toxicology.
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