FSMA Produce Safety Rule Training
California Specialty Crop Growers
Online Training
The goal of this project is to support California specialty crop growers as they work to meet the new compliance standards of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule (PSR). WIFSS at UC Davis and UC ANR has developed educational, training, and resource materials that are now shared with growers directly or through extension specialists, farm advisors, or industry groups. The materials are now available online and in multiple languages (Spanish, Hmong, Mandarin, and English) to meet the diverse needs of California specialty crop growers.
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One Health for Food Safety, Food Security, and Sustainable Food Production
Researchers at WIFSS and WCFS, located at the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, Sara Garcia, Bennie Osburn, and, Michele Jay-Russell, took steps forward in advancing food safety and security by publishing an article on applying the One Health approach to sustainable food production.
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The article argues that, in order to achieve food security for the global population, preserve natural resources, and improve health through safeguarding food safety, there is a need for increased awareness among academics, producers, consumers, and government agencies on the concepts of One Health. In addition, there is an urgency to incorporate these concepts into the curriculum for scientific programs, including agricultural and medical, engineering, and humanities.
The goal is to establish networks that will work toward improving public health, food safety, and sustainable agriculture by establishing new perspectives on interactions among plants, animals, and humans and recognizing the threat of disasters and transboundary diseases impacting food security.
Read the full article here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00001/ful
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WIFSS Completes another Round of Training for the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium
WIFSS has been a member of the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC) since 2008, and in 2019-2020 they completed another round of training courses focused on helping rural communities prepare for disasters that may impact animals, agriculture, and food. The two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) certified courses currently being delivered are AWR 328: All Hazards Preparedness for Animals in Disasters, and MGT 448: All Hazards Preparedness for Animal, Agriculture, and Food Related Disasters. To date, the WIFSS instructional team has completed a total of 25 deliveries of each course, and has trained over 1,300 participants from rural communities all across the country. Participants at the courses include emergency managers, first responders, public health agencies, agency employees from USDA and various state agriculture agencies, animal control agencies, and many other community members that may be involved in the event of a disaster that could impact animals, agriculture, or food. The courses are taught by a team of instructors that have experience in disaster response, emergency management, animal rescue, and agriculture. Our instructors are Tracey Stevens, Brian Whipple, Art Johnstone, and Michael Turner.
WIFSS has received another contract from RDPC to continue delivering these courses for another year. A complete listing of upcoming training events can be found at our website: https://www.wifss.ucdavis.edu/courses/
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Research Article: Foodborne Pathogens in Birds in Agricultural Lands
This study, led by Nora Navarro-Gonzalez, former WCFS postdoctoral scholar in the Jay-Russell Laboratory, was highlighted as an article of significant interest in the February issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and chosen for the cover photo. The work was supported by a research grant from the Center for Produce Safety. Findings indicated that the shedding dynamics of foodborne pathogens by wild birds on farmland are not well characterized. This yearlong study sampled wild birds for foodborne pathogens within agricultural lands in northern California. There was a low prevalence of Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, and non-O157 Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (prevalence, 0.34% to 0.50%)
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identified in bird populations in this study. However, pathogens of public health importance (such as Salmonella Newport, E. coli O157:H7, and STEC O103 and O26) were identified in fecal samples, and two birds carried STEC on their feet or feathers. Identical pathogen strains were shared episodically among birds and between wild geese and free-range cattle. This result suggests a common source of contamination in the environment and potential transmission between species. These findings can be used to assess the risk posed by bird intrusions in produce fields and enhance policy decisions toward the co-management of food safety and farmland habitat conservation.
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Chris Brunner to retire
Chris Brunner, who has been with the School of Veterinary Medicine since 1990, is retiring effective February 29, 2020. Ms. Brunner served in the Dean’s office coordinating and assisting with many of the administrative activities under four deans. In 2012 she accepted a position at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security where she assumed the role of “Communications and International Programs Coordinator.” During her tenure at WIFSS she has led the charge to revamp the WIFSS website, and initiated Twitter and Facebook accounts to inform others about important research, outreach, training and educational activities. She has penned stories for WIFSS breaking news and is a contributing author on food news from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources where she contributed such stories as “Honey bee health as a key to wellbeing of the species.” During the last five years Ms. Brunner has played a major role in helping formulate and coordinate One Health for Food Safety and Animal Health educational conferences for more 400 undergraduate students from Nanjing Agricultural University, China and nearly 100 vocational faculty from six different provinces in China. Her diligence in facilitating the programs and planning for field trip experiences has helped introduce undergraduate students and vocational faculty to knowledge of other disciplines associated with One Health and provides opportunities for exposure to relevant knowledge of agriculture, animal husbandry, resources and environment related to life sciences. This information has served to provide a more comprehensive reference for the student candidates' future career goals, advanced degrees, or teaching strategies. When undergraduate students complete the 3-week course they are committed to actively explore and find effective ways to solve problems through cooperation between different disciplines. The students are quick to acknowledge her nurturing role in their educational experience at UC Davis. In addition, she continues to communicate with both students and vocational faculty through WeChat after their return to China. Many students have gone on to advanced degree programs at universities throughout the world, and vocational faculty have modified their course deliveries to fit with the One Health concept.
Following her official retirement from the University she will come back to assist with the international program activities. We at WIFSS are grateful for her untiring efforts in support of the mission of our organization.
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Garcia, S.N., B.I. Osburn, and M.T. Jay-Russell. 2020. One health for food safety, food security, and sustainable food production. Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 28 January 2020 https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00001
Moussavi, M., J. C. Frelka, I.M. Hildebrant, B. P. Marks, and L. J. Harris. 2020. Thermal resistance of foodborne pathogens and Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 on inoculated pistachios. J. Food Prot. In-press. https://doi.org/10.4315/JFP-19-561
Moyne, A.-L., T. Blessington, T. R. Williams, S. T. Koike, M. D. Cahn, M. L. Marco, L. J. Harris. 2020. Conditions at the time of inoculation influence survival of attenuated Escherichia coli O157:H7 on field-inoculated lettuce. Food Microbiol. 85 2020 103274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2019.103274
Navarro-Gonzalez, N., S. Wright, P. Aminabadi, A. Gwinn, T. V. Suslow, M. T. Jay-Russell. 2020. Carriage and subtypes of foodborne pathogens identified in wild birds residing near agricultural lands in California: a repeated cross-sectional study. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 86(3):e01678-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM .01678-19.
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