Research Leads to Safer Food

Foodborne illness kills about 3,000 Americans annually. Though raw leafy greens are among the riskiest foods, that could change thanks to research at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

"Leafy greens are porous. That porosity makes it easy for pathogens to enter the leaf," said microbiologist Ahmed Yousef.

Currently, processors use liquid sanitizers on greens before packaging.

"But research shows liquid sanitizers are not always effective, and sometimes make the problem worse," said food engineer Gonul Kaletunc. Air pockets can prevent the liquid from ever reaching portions of the leaf surface; when it does, it may not penetrate the leaf deep enough to reach microbes.

Yousef, Kaletunc, and fellow food engineer Sudhir Sastry are testing more effective gaseous sanitizers -- ozone and chlorine dioxide -- and determining when it would be best to use them: perhaps during vacuum cooling or possibly during transport.

"If we apply the right techniques in the right place at the right time, we really can improve the safety of produce," Sastry said.

And industry is grateful: "Everyone knows that a new sanitizing technology is necessary," said Bobby Jones of The Chef's Garden in Huron. "This research will benefit growers of leafy greens nationwide -- but the fact that this work is being done in Ohio gives us a competitive advantage." Jones said the research works hand-in-hand with the development of the Ohio Produce Marketing Agreement, a collaborative effort to write food-safety standards between the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association, and Ohio State.

Learn more at http://go.osu.edu/leafy

-- Martha Filipic

OARDC, Ford Partner to Test New Applications for Russian Dandelion Rubber

In the not-so-distant future, you may be driving a car made with a U.S.- grown, alternative source of natural rubber developed by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. And we are not talking just tires here.

One of the world's largest automakers, Ford Motor Co. has joined forces with OARDC to test Taraxacum koksaghyz, or TKS -- a plant native to the former Soviet republics and commonly known as Russian dandelion -- as a substitute for synthetic rubber used in plastic parts such as cup holders, floor mats, and interior trim.

"We're always looking for new sustainable materials to use in our vehicles that have a smaller carbon footprint to produce and can be grown locally," Ford research engineer Angela Harris said. "Dandelions have the potential to serve as a great natural alternative to synthetic rubber in our products."



Ford will perform testing of OARDC-supplied TKS rubber for characteristics such as strength, softness, impact resistance, durability, aging resistance, elasticity, and memory -- potentially using it as a modifier to help improve the impact strength of plastics.

OARDC crop scientists and engineers have been working during the past few years on developing a commercially viable crop from TKS seeds and an effective way to extract rubber from the plant's fleshy roots -- which can contain 15 percent or more of the sticky substance.

In 2012, OARDC will establish a pilot- scale processing plant for solid rubber, latex, and film products. Several acres of dandelion will also be planted to supply the processing plants and expand testing.

In addition to Ford, project business partners include Bridgestone, Cooper Tire, and Veyance Technologies. Also involved are the University of Akron, Oregon State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Learn more at http://www.oardc.osu.edu/penra.

-- Mauricio Espinoza