UC Cooperative Extension | Agricultural Experiment Station
UC ANR adds 9 experts in water, wildfire, pest management and more
To help more Californians address challenging issues, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources has hired UC Cooperative Extension experts to work in communities stretching from Humboldt and Siskiyou counties in the north, and south to...
UC Delivers
Current evidence from surveys and product testing has shown that California vegetable commodities are rarely contaminated with detectable levels of the human pathogen E. coli O157:H7. However, periodic outbreaks occur. The September 2006 case of E. coli O157:H7 on spinach was a serious example that fundamentally changed the industry and public health landscape regarding food safety measures. To most effectively design risk reduction guidelines and improve food safety management, more information is needed on the biology and ecology of pathogens in actual field production environments. Many studies of E. coli O157:H7 and leafy vegetables are based on laboratory or growth chamber experiments. Many food safety guidelines and policies, by necessity, are based on such studies or on assumptions unrelated to vegetable production. It is imperative that more information be generated from trials involving natural populations of the disease organisms and the microbial-plant-animal ecology as it exists in the field. In addition, we need more information from controlled-inoculation experiments conducted in actual field production settings in California.
Read about: UCCE investigates how E. coli survives in vegetable fields | View Other Stories