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Food Safety Risk in an Indoor Microgreen Cultivation System

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Food Safety Risk in an Indoor Microgreen Cultivation System University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2020 Food Safety Risk in an Indoor Microgreen Cultivation System Gina Marie Misra University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Bacterial Infections and Mycoses Commons, Environmental Public Health Commons, Food Biotechnology Commons, Food Microbiology Commons, and the Food Processing Commons Citation Misra, G. M. (2020). Food Safety Risk in an Indoor Microgreen Cultivation System. Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3563 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Food Safety Risk in an Indoor Microgreen Cultivation System A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Cell and Molecular Biology by Gina Misra Pennsylvania State University Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, 2005 May 2020 University of Arkansas This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ____________________________________ Kristen E. Gibson, Ph.D. Thesis Chair ____________________________________ ___________________________________ Steven Ricke, Ph.D. Mary Savin, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member ____________________________________ Jyotisha Datta, Ph.D. Committee Member Abstract Microgreens are immature sprouts of edible plants, sharing some similarities with sprouted seeds and petite leafy greens. Since they are most often grown in containers in buildings or greenhouses, they present a new area for food safety research at the intersection of the built environment and produce farming. Contamination by human pathogens has been extensively studied in other types of produce typically eaten raw, including sprouted seeds, which have been implicated in numerous outbreaks of salmonellosis over the last several decades. There is a paucity of knowledge about the microgreen sector of the fresh-cut industry; thus, it was determined that a survey of operational details, microgreen varieties grown, and food safety practices would be needed to determine research directions. Following a nationwide survey of US-based microgreen farmers, two laboratory experiments were conducted using the most common production system type and microgreen varieties. Soil-free growing media (SFGM) was inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes FSL R2-574 and Salmonella enterica Javiana in a plant- free bench scale experiment as well as during cultivation of sunflower microgreens in a fully indoor, artificially lit, stacked track system similar to that of the microgreen farmers surveyed. It was found that the type of SFGM influenced survival of these two pathogens, which are commonly associated with sprouted seed outbreaks as well as several recent microgreen product recalls. Furthermore, it was found that survival of these pathogens was enhanced in the presence of the microgreen root environment. These results are important for informing system design decisions by microgreen farmers. ©2020 by Gina Misra All Rights Reserved Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank my advisor, Dr. Kristen E. Gibson, for her expert guidance in the construction of my research questions, experiments, and this thesis. I would also like to thank my lab-mates, Sarah Jones, Thomas Yeargin, Wenjun Deng, and Alyssa Ferri for their support in conducting experiments and proofreading manuscripts and posters. I would also like to acknowledge the support of Dr. Jyotishka Datta and Dr. Jung-Ae Lee for their valuable assistance with the statistical analyses conducted. This work was also supported in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Hatch Act funding; the Arkansas Water Resources Center; the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 104(b) Competitive Research Grants Program, and the University of Arkansas Doctoral Academy Fellowship for 2017-2019. Dedication It is with genuine gratitude that I dedicate this work to my husband and partner in all things, Jacob Haqq Misra. Without his tireless emotional and intellectual support, this work may not have been completed. This thesis is only the beginning of all the great science we will do together in the decades to come. Table of Contents Introduction: Why study indoor microgreen cultivation systems? ................................................. 1 I. What is controlled environment agriculture? ....................................................................... 1 II. Common CEA crops and techniques ................................................................................... 1 III. The Appeal of Indoor Farming ............................................................................................ 2 IV. Food Safety in CEA ............................................................................................................. 3 V. Microgreens ......................................................................................................................... 5 VI. References ............................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 1: Microgreens—A review of food safety considerations along the farm to fork continuum ..................................................................................................................................... 12 I. Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 12 II. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 12 III. Traits of high-risk crops: how microgreens compare ........................................................ 16 i. Tissue damage increases susceptibility .......................................................................... 16 ii. Hand harvesting and farm worker hygiene .................................................................... 18 iii. Sprouts: an ideal disease vector ..................................................................................... 20 IV. The Produce Safety Rule and Guidance for the Sprout Industry ....................................... 22 i. Good Agricultural Practices ........................................................................................... 23 ii. Are commodity-specific guidelines for microgreens needed? ....................................... 24 V. Potential Control Points for Microgreens .......................................................................... 24 i. Irrigation Water and Irrigation Methods ........................................................................ 24 ii. Decontamination of the seed .......................................................................................... 26 iii. The relationship between post-harvest washing, spoilage, and contamination.............. 28 VI. Microgreen safety .............................................................................................................. 30 VII. Future Research ................................................................................................................. 35 VIII. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 36 IX. References .......................................................................................................................... 37 X. Figures................................................................................................................................ 44 XI. Tables ................................................................................................................................. 46 Chapter 2: Characterization of Microgreen Businesses in the United States with Emphasis on Food Safety ................................................................................................................................... 47 I. Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 47 II. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 47 III. Materials and Methods ....................................................................................................... 51 i. Ethics statement.............................................................................................................. 51 ii. Survey development and implementation ...................................................................... 52 iii. Survey Questions............................................................................................................ 52 iv. Estimating Total Production........................................................................................... 53 v. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................. 54 IV. Results ................................................................................................................................ 55 i. Demographics................................................................................................................
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