Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions

Providing Safe Food Part 1

Did You Know? About 76 million cases of food poisoning occur in the United States every year. Simply keeping cold foods cold and hot foods hot before serving can prevent many cases of food poisoning. Salmonella is better known, but another bacterium called Campylobacter (found on foods like raw chicken) is the No. 1 cause of food poisoning in the United States and the world. There are two main kinds of food poisoning. One results from toxins or poisons produced by microbes in food before consumption. The other results from microbes in food that infect the body and grow after consumption. Most cases of “24-hour flu,” with its vomiting and diarrhea, actually are food poisoning.

Every Thanksgiving, family and friends gather to celebrate round dinner tables heaped high with roast turkey and other traditional dishes. There’s praise and thanks for the food, of course. But we’re also thankful for all the year’s blessings. For good health. For the love and support of family and friends. Maybe we should add a word of thanksgiving for the scientific advances that are helping to keep our food supply safe from a host of threats that can really spoil a meal.

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Resources

Science for Kids

Hands-on activities for aspiring young chemists

Food

Nutrition

Careers in Chemistry

• Food and Flavor Chemistry
• Agricultural Chemistry
• Chemical Engineering
• Biotechnology

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS^®)

SciFinder®, a research tool produced by CAS (a division of the American Chemical Society), found 730 references published this year on the broad topic of "food pathogens". Analysis of this answer set reflects current research interest on topics such as prevention and control of food contamination, methods for detecting various pathogens, and the microbiology and genetics of specific bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter.

The CAS databases cover references from more than 10,000 major scientific journals and 57 patent authorities worldwide.

http://www.cas.org/

ACS Policy Statements and Briefings

• Statement on Energy Science &Technology

In the News

• Irradiation Of Lettuce & Spinach
  C&EN, August 4, 2008
• GAO Pushes For Food Safety Details: Report questions FDA's ability to protect U.S. food supply
  C&EN, June 19, 2008
• Analytical Chemistry Comes To The Fore
  C&EN, May 12, 2008
• Students catch EPA's "green wave"
  ES&T, February 13, 2008
• Agency Depends On In-House Forensic And Toxicological Expertise: FDA scientific units have compiled evidence needed for several high-profile cases
  C&EN, May 12, 2008
• New Strategy For Food Import Safety: Interagency panel wants risk-based approach to keep tainted food out of U.S.
  C&EN, September 12, 2007
• FDA Lambasted For Lax Inspection- Checks of imports called totally inadequate
  C&EN, July 23, 2007
• Food Irradiation- Recent E. coli outbreaks heighten interest in the technology
  C&EN, January 15, 2007
• Food Safety System: Contaminated spinach prompts call for major overhaul
  C&EN, December 11, 2006
• FDA Turns 100: Agency has come a long way in its first century, but serious challenges remain
  C&EN, September 18, 2006

Books

• Many books have been written in the past few years about the prevention of foodborne infections. These books offer an amazing variety of opinions and viewpoints. Information on many of these books is available from the Library of Congress, http://catalog.loc.gov/

Sources for this podcast

• Fluorescence-Based Method, Exploiting Lipofuscin, for Real-Time Detection of Central Nervous System Tissues on Bovine Carcasses
  Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, August 13, 2008
• Near real-time detection of Cryptosporidium parvum oocyst by IgM-functionalized piezoelectric-excited millimeter-sized cantilever biosensor
  Biosensors and Bioelectronics, February 28, 2008
• Method for Label-Free Detection of Femtogram Quantities of Biologics in Flowing Liquid Samples
  Analytical Chemistry, April 1, 2007
• Detection and Confirmation of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B in Apple Juice and Milk Using Piezoelectric-Excited Millimeter-Sized Cantilever Sensors at 2.5 fg/mL
  Analytical Chemistry, October 15, 2007
• The Chemistry and Applications of Antimicrobial Polymers: A State-of-the-Art Review
  BioMacromolecules, May 2007
• A novel and simple cell-based detection system with a collagen-encapsulated B-lymphocyte cell line as a biosensor for rapid detection of pathogens and toxins
  Laboratory Investigation, published online in advance of print publication
• PCR-based detection in a micro-fabricated platform
  Lab on a Chip, July, 2008
• Therapeutic Supplementation of Caprylic Acid in Feed Reduces Campylobacter jejuni Colonization in Broiler Chicks
  Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2008
• Inactivation of microbial contaminants in fresh produce
  235^th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 10, 2008
• Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food --- 10 States, 2007
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, April 11, 2008

Other Resources

• Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Disease
  Centers for Disease Control
• Foodborne Illness
  Centers for Disease Control
• Irradiation of Foods
  Environmental Protection Agency
• National Food Safety Programs
  Food and Drug Administration
• Turkey Preparation and Storage
  National Turkey Federation

Meet the Scientists

• Scientist Bios