7/27/01

AU'S FOOD SAFETY PEAK OF EXCELLENCE TO SHOWCASE NEW TECHNOLOGY

AUBURN -- Auburn University faculty will unveil newly developed technologies one which may help prevent mad-cow disease to industrial representatives Aug. 1-2 at a technical and research conference on campus.

The researchers, all working in AU's Detection and Food Safety Center, designated a Peak of Excellence in 1999, will present their research findings to industry representatives in the areas of food processing, food packaging, agricultural feed, diagnostic equipment development and diagnostic testing.

The 14 researchers and their associates will unveil patented and patent-pending technology for the identification of pathogens in food and feed products. One of those technologies could be the key in preventing the entrance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, into the U.S. food chain.

The major source of BSE transmission is through the ingestion of livestock feed contaminated with tainted meat-and-bone meal ruminants. The remains of dead animals which can carry the mad-cow disease are often ground and mixed in agricultural feed as a source of protein.

The Food and Drug Administration has recently mandated strict requirements on the content of livestock feed to prevent the spread of BSE to the United States. However, diagnostic methods to ascertain these contents, a component necessary to enforce the ban, are currently lacking.

To date, all blind samples of livestock feed submitted to AU for contaminated meat- and-bone meal testing have been correctly identified using the university's patent-pending technology.

This technology is one of several inventions that will be available for immediate commercial licensing following the conference.

AUDFS is working to combine advances in the identification of food-borne illnesses and contaminants with the latest in biosensor technology. This research will one day lead to a system of monitoring food products from production to consumption, thereby eliminating or significantly reducing the threat of food-borne bacterial pathogens and toxins reaching the dinner table and restaurants.

The two-day conference, which will be at the AU Hotel and Dixon Conference Center as well other sites on campus, will include more than 20 technical posters outlining research into the detection of E. coli, Salmonella and Legionella. The posters will summarize work toward other supportive components of food safety research, including education and outreach efforts and biosensor development.

Because of the technical and research nature of the information being presented, industry representatives are required to sign non-disclosure agreements with AU before attending.

The AU Detection and Food Safety Center is one of seven university Peaks of Excellence. The research center, based in the Materials Research and Education Center, is a multi-disciplinary effort involving five Auburn University colleges: Sam Ginn College of Engineering, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture, College of Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Human Sciences.

Faculty from other campus colleges and departments collaborate with core faculty members on research funded by federal agencies and private industry. The center is under the direction of Bryan A. Chin, professor and chair of the Materials Research and Education Center.

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jul01:AU-technologyconf