Date of Award
4-5-2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Environmental Sciences, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Dr. Soohyun Ahn
Second Advisor
Dr. Steven Pao
Committee Members
Dr. Hubert Stroud; Dr. Jerry Farris; Dr. Kevin Humphrey
Call Number
LD251 .A566d 2012 L32
Abstract
Food sanitation is a very important issue that affects the global market. Proper sanitation can help reduce microbial pathogens which influence public health by causing illnesses and death and financial resources (e.g. time lost at work, loss of produce due to spoilage, and recalls). In a number of incidences, foods may be reported as extremely susceptible to pathogens and are denoted as potentially hazardous by health organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state institutions. Pathogenic contamination of foods may be caused by factors that include growing environment, handling, processing, produce structure, water activity (the amount of water available for microbial growth), and pH. Foods that warrant investigation and meet the above criteria, and are commonly consumed, include roma tomatoes, green onions, and jalapeño peppers. Contact between produce (e.g. roma tomatoes, green onions, and jalapeño peppers) and bacterial pathogens are potentially unavoidable due to their physical properties (e.g. produce structure), growing environment (e.g. contact with soil, water, and insects) and handling conditions. Furthermore, produce are commonly consumed raw, lacking a cooking step which may reduce pathogen concentrations. For these reasons, it is imperative that sanitation methods be investigated to reduce risk, illnesses, and outbreaks related to these produce. This dissertation will evaluate the sanitization processes of produce in association with sanitizers incorporating physical means (e.g. brushing, agitation). Factors that will be evaluated include: limiting pathogenic bacterial concentrations, reducing cross contamination, increasing shelf life, and evaluating factors associated with the spread of potentially dangerous pathogens in these complex commodities.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Long III, Wilbert, "Evaluation and Verification of Washing Practices on Pathogen Recovery and Survival on Produce" (2012). Student Theses and Dissertations. 856.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/856
