Finalists present proposals for efficient detection of Salmonella at FDA’s 2014 Food Safety Challenge

Researchers from universities and companies across the US have presented their works for the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2014 Food Safety Challenge that is aimed at developing methods for the speedy and efficient detection of salmonella.

Salmonella, a type of food poisoning, is said to affect close to one million people across the country, with the bacteria afflicting people with diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

A total of 49 teams had submitted their proposals between 23 September and 9 November last year, out of which five proposals were chosen for the finals, the results of which will be announced by the end of July.

As part of the challenge, the teams were asked to speed up the detection methods for salmonella in minimally processed fresh produce such as tomatoes. The finalists were also asked to make the process more portable.

The detection of salmonella is challenging, and many food producers fail to screen domestic or imported food products as the process is both time consuming and expensive, Pronucleotein vice-president John Bruno, one of the five finalists, was quoted as saying by US News and World Report.

Food Safety News reported that the team of Purdue University’s Michael Landisch demonstrated a process that could filter pathogenic cells out of a stomached food sample using hollow fibers. This process was able to decrease the time for sample preparation from 24-48 hours to 2-3 hours.

The team from the University of Illinois and Purdue has developed a handheld system to incorporate both sample preparation and pathogen detection using microchips from biomolecular reactions. The team claimed that concentrating the cells will take approximately two hours, while the detection would take 45 minutes.

Pronucleotein has developed a system by which aptamers replace antibodies, a process that takes around 30 minutes.

Bart Weimer suggested a three-hour-long process that could capture and concentrate salmonella using a kind of large glass bead that precedes a culture-independent diagnostic test.

Auburn University came up with a biosensor capable of detecting pathogens directly on the surface of foods, the detection of which will take between 2 and 12 minutes.