Appalachian and USDA-ARS collaborate to combat food-borne pathogens

Posted Feb. 1, 2018 at 3:42 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — An interdisciplinary team consisting of Dr. Anne Fanatico, Annie Donoghue, Todd Rudicill and Jim McLaughlin received $50,000 in funding from the Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to examine plant-derived compounds that reduce food-borne pathogens in organic poultry production and provide specialized food safety and processing training.

Fanatico is an assistant professor in Appalachian State University’s Goodnight Family Department of Sustainable Development; Donoghue serves as research leader for USDA-ARS’ Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit; Rudicill is resident assistant farm manager at the sustainable development department’s Teaching and Research Farm and Agroecology Laboratory located in Fleetwood, in Ashe County; and McLaughlin is owner and founder of Cornerstone Poultry Ventures, a dealer of poultry processing equipment located in Wilkesboro.

According to Fanatico, this grant allows Appalachian State University to collaborate with the USDA-ARS to examine compounds, including trans-cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol and eugenol, for reducing food-borne pathogens in organic poultry production. These compounds are derived from plants such as cinnamon, oregano and cloves, she said.

Fanatico, who teaches courses in agroecology and has a research interest in ecological poultry production, said, “Appalachian’s Teaching and Research Farm is an example of a small farm that raises fruits and vegetables along with livestock, including free-range eggs and chicken meat. It provides an excellent site for outreach and training in organic food production. In addition, the sustainable development farm has a mobile processing unit for on-farm poultry slaughter, which is shared in the High Country farming community.”

She, along with farm staff, will develop training components and provide outreach on processing, packaging and handling poultry products on small farms to maintain high food safety for poultry products and eggs, as well as vegetables and other produce, she said.

Undergraduate students majoring in sustainable development at Appalachian will participate in the project by completing workshops on poultry processing at the Teaching and Research Farm and Agroecology Laboratory.

About the Goodnight Family Department of Sustainable Development

One of seven departments housed in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, the Goodnight Family Department of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University prepares students to thoughtfully analyze human development while focusing on the applied practice of pursuing transformative, community-driven development and social change. It offers a Bachelor of Science degree in sustainable development with concentrations in agroecology and sustainable agriculture; community, regional and global development; and environmental studies; as well as a Bachelor of Arts and minor in sustainable development. Learn more at https://sd.appstate.edu.

About the USDA Agricultural Research Department

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. ARS conducts research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority and provide information access and dissemination to ensure high-quality, safe food, and other agricultural products; assess the nutritional needs of Americans; sustain a competitive agricultural economy; enhance the natural resource base and the environment; provide economic opportunities for rural citizens, communities, and society as a whole; and provide the infrastructure necessary to create and maintain a diversified workplace.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls more than 19,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.