A meat science and muscle biology graduate student from Texas Tech's Department of Animal and Food Sciences has been awarded first place honors for his research poster at the International Association for Food Protection European Symposium on Food Safety in Warsaw, Poland.

Nathan Tapp, a master's student from Gravette, Ark., focused his research presentation on room temperature alternative sanitation practices; since non-thermal water can be more accessible throughout of the world. The research poster was titled, "Reduction of Salmonella on Harvesting Knives Following Thirty Second Sanitizing Treatments."

Tapp, who serves as a graduate research assistant, found that that while thermal sanitation is generally more effective for pathogenic contamination, there are alternatives producing reduction of Salmonella if hot water is not available. He noted that the purpose of the study was to compare room temperature sanitizing treatments to standard water sanitation treatments to determine the treatment most effective at reducing Salmonella on harvesting knives.

Salmonella illnesses can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever. Salmonella causes about 1.2 million cases of food poisoning each year. Its victims are most likely to be 5 or younger. Infections from salmonella, which can be deadly, result in $365 million in direct medical costs each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The IAFP's European Symposium on Food Safety was organized in collaboration with the International Life Sciences Institute Europe and the Society for Applied Microbiology. Since 2005, the symposium has centered on the future of food safety by providing a forum for professionals from across Europe working in industry, government and academia.

Program officials claim that the mission of the International Association for Food Protection is to provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.

Written by Norman Martin

CONTACT: Leslie Thompson, chairman and professor, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2805 ext. 224 or leslie.thompson@ttu.edu

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