Microwave Pasteurization: A New Industrial Process Producing High Quality and Safe Food

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Hongda Chen, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, on April 18, 2014 at 2:00 PM

A Washington State University-led research team member works on the prototype microwave assisted pasteurization system (MAPS) unit. MAPS allows packaged foods to be safely processed more quickly and at lower cost than conventional processes. Photo courtesy of Washington State University.

During the month of April we will take a closer look at USDA’s Groundbreaking Research for a Revitalized Rural America, highlighting ways USDA researchers are improving the lives of Americans in ways you might never imagine, like innovative ways to make food safer.

More than 90 percent of American households have microwave ovens where people heat their food, yet this same technology is seldom used for large-scale production in the food industry.

As home cooks know, microwave ovens do not excel at heating food evenly.  The lack of commercial-scale microwave processing technology is, in part, due to the challenge of designing equipment that is capable of pasteurization – heating all of the food evenly to a predetermined temperature for a certain length of time.  Pasteurization makes food safe to eat, by inactivating bacterial and viral pathogens that can make people sick.

Food safety is the top priority for the food industry and has long been one of the priority research areas for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).  With the help of a $5 million grant from NIFA, a team of scientists and engineers led by Washington State University (WSU) have developed an innovative, pilot-scale microwave assisted pasteurization system (MAPS) to rapidly and evenly heat packaged food products.  The team included University of Tennessee, North Carolina State University, the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Eastern Regional Research Center.

The prototype is a 915 MHz microwave that processes foods that are both safe and of high quality.  Initial results show that the quality of microwave-pasteurized foods, such as mussels, shrimp, and tofu, is better than using conventional thermal processing methods.

An additional benefit to this technology is that microwave heating time is shorter than conventional thermal processing, and the shorter time means producing higher food quality at lower energy output and cost.

Food companies can now use MAPS to test a wide range of food products and adapt the technology to suit their needs. WSU anticipates licensing this technology to a start-up company, Food Chain Safety, for commercialization in the coming months.

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education, and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues that impact people’s daily lives and the nation’s future.  More information is available at www.nifa.usda.gov.

USDA-Funded Researchers Map the Loblolly Pine Genome

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Scott Elliott, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, on April 4, 2014 at 1:00 PM

During the month of April we will take a closer look at USDA’s Groundbreaking Research for a Revitalized Rural America, highlighting ways USDA researchers are improving the lives of Americans in ways you might never imagine, including research into trees that could fuel new energy solutions.

A team of researchers led by the University of California–Davis has mapped the complete genome of the loblolly pine. And if you don’t think that understanding the genetic makeup of loblolly pine is a big deal, perhaps you cannot see the forest for the trees.

Loblolly pine, the most commercially important tree in the United States, is the source of most paper products in this country and 58 percent of timber. On the surface, that might be reason enough for the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to invest $14.6 million in 2011 toward science that could increase the productivity and health of American forests.

Loblolly pine also looms large on the horizon as a feedstock for the next generation of American biofuel.  President Obama’s goal of reducing the United States’ dependency on foreign oil by 30 percent by the year 2030 will be met, in large part, by producing home-grown biofuel. According to Genome Biology, approximately 75 percent of that biofuel will have to come from non-grain, non-food sources called lignocellulosic biomass – and loblolly pine could be a major contributor to filling that need.

Mapping the loblolly genome, then, became an important part of the plan in terms of improving the health and sustainability of this important plant. But, mapping a genome is no easy task, and the loblolly pine proved to be the greatest challenge to date for this type of research. The loblolly genome is the largest ever sequenced and is about seven times larger than the human genome.

To sequence a genome, scientists must first examine the DNA of their subject and then “map” the location of each nucleotide (the “A, C, T, and G” bases) of the entire DNA chain. Scientists use this information to find the best traits, such as disease resistance, and develop better future generations.

The challenge of overcoming the sheer volume of loblolly data is a triumph of its own for the research team.  According to David Neal, team leader and professor of plant sciences at UC–Davis, the team could “read” the nucleotide letters, but only in short batches. The problem was putting together the 16 billion fragments in a way that would allow them to read the complete story of the loblolly pine.

Researchers met this task by employing a new technique developed at the University of Maryland.  Team members overlapped smaller sections of data to form larger chunks and then threw away the redundant information. The process eventually meant the computer had 100 times less sequence data to deal with. The success of this process may help speed up future genome-mapping projects.

The loblolly project team consisted of UC–Davis, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Indiana University–Bloomington, Texas A&M University, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, and Washington State University.

Their complete articles of this research were published in the March 2014 issues of GENETICS and Genome Biology.

Appeal of Diverse Side of Ag Statistics

USA RingCentral Professional - Get a Toll Free Number with voicemail starting at $8.29 per month

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Troy Joshua, National Agricultural Statistics Service, on August 27, 2013 at 9:40 AM

Troy Joshua (left) visited Matty Matarazzo’s (right) farm. Matarazzo owns and operates the Four Sisters Winery in Belvidere, N.J.

This post is part of the Science Today feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

2013 is the International Year of Statistics. As part of this global event, every month this year USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will profile careers of individuals who are making significant contributions to improve agricultural statistics in the United States.

Growing up in the rural community of St. James, Louisiana, I always had a passion for agriculture. In 1992, I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Business from Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and earned a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Washington State University two years later.

For my master’s thesis, I created an economic model analyzing the profitability of the Washington state asparagus industry. To get the data for my thesis, I created and mailed questionnaires, editing and analyzing all of the responses. This experience sparked my interest in the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and I joined the agency’s California Field Office in 1994.

The California office opened up new horizons for me. Growing up in Louisiana, I was used to what we call “conventional” farming. But California agriculture is much more diverse, giving me a chance to learn about different crops, such as grapes, almonds, and oranges. That was just the beginning of my NASS career. I expanded my knowledge of American agriculture, accepting assignments over the next few decades in Mississippi, Washington, D.C. and New Jersey offices.

These experiences also honed my statistical skills and prepared me for my current role as the chief of the Environmental, Economics, and Demographics Branch. Diversity is truly the nature of my branch. We publish all of the agency’s data on farmer demographics, farm income, prices, labor, as well as on pesticide and herbicide use in agriculture. Just a few weeks ago, for example, we published updates to farm expenditures figures, which showed that producers’ expenditures topped $350 billion for the first time in history.

It is the diversity of statistics that appeals the most to me about my current role. One day I may meet with farmers who talk to me about their increases in farm inputs as compared to the value of their crops sold. The next day, I may handle one of our frequent requests from university professors looking for farmer demographics data for the U.S. and specific regions. To me, that’s the true beauty of statistics – the fact that these numbers touch every facet of our lives.