Purdue, FDA join Indiana produce growers in multiyear food safety study

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have embarked on a multiyear study of Salmonella prevalence and persistence focused primarily on the cantaloupe growing region of Southwest Indiana. Growers in the region are assisting with the statewide study to extend their decades-long focus on food safety.

The  study also includes a farm in central Indiana, four Purdue-operated farms in Northwest Indiana’s Tippecanoe County, and the Southwest Purdue Ag Center near Vincennes. Researchers are sampling air, soil, water and animal scat while also taking weather data to better understand what environmental conditions may encourage the survival, growth and spread of pathogens. They are even considering the possible role of bee pollination in the process.

The study follows a Salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe grown in Southwest Indiana. However, the source or route of contamination remains unknown. In recent years, similar studies have been conducted following outbreaks linked to produce in Arizona, California, Florida, and earlier outbreaks traced to the Delmarva Peninsula of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

Indiana’s cantaloupe production ranked sixth in U.S. as of 2018, according to the most recently available data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That year, Indiana growers planted 1,800 acres of cantaloupe with a production value of $8.6 million.

Southwest Indiana growers also cultivate other produce such as sweet corn tomatoes and watermelons. That produce has remained free of contaminants, said Amanda Deering, associate professor of fresh food produce safety in Purdue’s Department of Food Science.

“The growers wanted to participate in this study because of their commitment to do everything they can to keep their produce as safe as possible,” Deering said. Deering leads Purdue’s share of the study with Scott Monroe, Purdue Extension food safety educator at the Purdue Extension Food Safety Training Hub near Vincennes, Ind. Also involved are students from Purdue’s Food Entrepreneurship and Manufacturing Institute. The FEMI students are helping with the research at Purdue’s Animal Sciences Research and Education Center, Student Farm, and the Throckmorton Purdue Agricultural Center, which includes Meigs Farm.

The new study focuses on how pathogens move in the environment and may contaminate produce before harvest. But contamination can also arise during transportation or at the retail outlet. Most people handle several cantaloupes before making their selection, transferring whatever was on their hands to the produce, Deering noted. “Do you ever take the first cantaloupe you touch out of the bin? Probably not,” she said. 

Indiana cantaloupe growers have a history of tapping the expertise of Deering, Monroe and other specialists in the Safe Produce Indiana team of Purdue Extension, who work closely with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture and the Indiana Department of Health to address food safety issues in Indiana.

Last year Deering’s team tested various cantaloupe sanitizers in her lab with human pathogens. Indiana growers wash their produce in sanitizer before sending it to a packing house. Deering’s team found that a combination of sanitizers worked better than what the growers had been using. 

“I gave them the data and they all switched to the new sanitizer treatment,” she said. “It’s their livelihood, so they take it seriously.”

Writer: Steve Koppes

Media contact: Devyn Raver, draver@purdue.edu

Source: Amanda Deering, adeering@purdue.edu.

About Purdue Agriculture

Purdue University’s College of Agriculture is one of the world’s leading colleges of agricultural, food, life and natural resource sciences. The college is committed to preparing students to make a difference in whatever careers they pursue; stretching the frontiers of science to discover solutions to some of our most pressing global, regional and local challenges; and, through Purdue Extension and other engagement programs, educating the people of Indiana, the nation and the world to improve their lives and livelihoods. To learn more about Purdue Agriculture, visit this site.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives