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Mycotoxins are compounds produced by certain species of fungi which infect grains such as corn and peanuts. Among the most common and most toxic of these are the aflatoxins (AF), with AFB1 and AFG1 recognized as potent carcinogens in addition to their other negative effects. Contamination results in large economic losses at all levels of food production. Few effective means of treating contamin ...

Accelerator Technology Corp. proposes to develop a compact, cost-effective elctron-beam disinfestation system for pasteurization of meat patties. The system is designed to be integrated into the production line of a conventional meat patty operation. In such operations, the patties are stamped from sheets of ground meat in rows of 4-5 patties, moving on a conveyor at the rate of ~1 row/second. ...

ALTHOUGH AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY IS FINDING WIDESPREAD USE IN MANY INDUSTRIES, THE FOOD INDUSTRY IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING TOINTRODUCE SUCH TECHNOLOGY IN PRODUCTION FACILITIES. IN PARTICULAR, THERE IS A NEED TO INCREASE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IN A NUMBER OF AREAS INCLUDING NEW SENSORS AND MONITORING SYSTEMS, ROBOTIC TECHNIQUES, AND APPLICATIONS OF VISION SYSTEM FOR PRODUCT EVALUATION AT INTER ...

The use of sub-therapeutic concentrations of anti-microbial agents in animal feed has contributed to theproductivity of the U.S. meat and dairy industries by preventing infectious diseases, by decreasing theamount of feed required and by increasing the rate of animal weight gain. However, failure to observerecommended practices of drug withdrawal can result in concentrations of antibiotic residue ...

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The incidence of food borne outbreaks associated with Salmonella has risen steadily since the mid1970's. The monetary cost of salmonellosis has been estimated at $4 billion annually. The primarycause of salmonellosis has been linked to the consumption of eggs or egg products containingSalmonella enteritidis and 80% of all eggs consumed in the United States are transported to thepurchaser in the ...

Rodent pancreatic trypsin will be isolated from rodent pancreatic tissue. The enzyme will be purified and injected into rabbits to generate polyclonal antibodies. The rabbit anti-rodent trypsin antibodies will be used to develop a sandwich ELISA assay for rodent fecal contamination in agricultural and food products.

The ready-to-assemble (RTA) construction system is a new method for assembling wood structuresbuilt from the following engineered wood products: parallel strand lumber (PSL), laminated strandlumber (LSL), and laminated veneer lumber (LVL). The RTA system is designed for rapid assemblyby small crews of unskilled labor using common hand tools. The design of the RTA systemincorporates engineered w ...

Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a retrovirus that causes a chronic infection in horses. In theabsence of a vaccine, the control of this disease depends on the diagnosis and elimination of infectedhorses. Currently approved diagnostic procedures utilize agar gel diffusion (AGID), or enzyme-linkedimmunosorbant (ELISA) methodologies to detect antibodies against the virus in horse sera as e ...

Water quality and soil erosion are high priority issues for U.S. agriculture. In more humid areas of theU.S., vegetation filter strips have proven to be an effective method of reducing erosion and improvingwater quality. Filter strips are less effective in the West due to sparser vegetation and more variablerainfall. In addition, establishment of vegetation is more difficult in many western wat ...