Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, discusses possible changes to tax rules for employer-sponsored health coverage, House approval of legislation that would allow FDA to regulate tobacco and a House committee’s approval of a bill that would allow more visas to be issued to foreign nurses in this week’s “Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork and CQ.”

According to Carey, the Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about possible changes to the treatment of tax subsidies for employer-sponsored health benefits, which excludes premiums paid by employers from taxable income for employees. Economists at the hearing said that changing the tax treatment could generate up to $250 billion annually to help provide coverage to the uninsured. However, witnesses testified that the changes also could produce problems for those who receive employer-sponsored health care. For example, employers could refuse to offer insurance, which could make it more difficult for older and sicker employees to purchase private coverage because group premiums often are lower than individual premiums. If employers would drop coverage, there also is the possibility that they could raise employee wages with the money that would have gone to pay for health insurance, Carey says. Witnesses said that the change could be made slowly, requiring that private insurers do not charge sicker members higher rates and requiring that all people purchase coverage.

Carey also discusses a bill (HR 1108) approved by a veto-proof 326-102 margin in the House that would allow FDA to regulate tobacco and nicotine levels. The bill would not allow FDA to ban cigarettes or nicotine outright, but it would impose restrictions on how cigarettes can be advertised and sold. Under the bill, FDA would receive regulatory funding from fees placed on tobacco product manufacturers and importers. It is not known when the Senate will consider the legislation, though several Republican senators have expressed opposition to the measure. The White House says the bill could lead people to think some tobacco products are safe and would distract FDA from its primary duties of drug and food safety. The administration also objects to the proposed tax on cigarettes that would finance the bill.

In addition, Carey discusses approval of legislation (HR 5924) by the House Judiciary subcommittee that would provide 20,000 visas annually for three years to address a nursing shortage in the U.S. Bill sponsor Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) said hospitals have more than 115,000 nursing vacancies, and HHS has warned that the number could grow to one million by 2020. The legislation also would provide grants to U.S. nursing schools to help boost enrollment, as well as grants to fund new nursing training programs. Opponents of the measure say that if sectors like nursing are given special visa treatment, it will impede comprehensive immigration reform.

The complete audio version of “Health on the Hill,” transcript and resources for further research are available online at kaisernetwork.

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

A study in the March 1 issue of the journal SLEEP shows that African-American and Hispanic young adults with short or long sleep durations had greater increases in belly fat over a five-year period compared with those who reported sleeping six to seven hours a night.

Results show that in participants younger than 40 years of age, both short and long sleep durations were associated with significant increases in body mass index (BMI), as well as in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) fat accumulation. Compared with people who reported a nightly sleep duration of six to seven hours, those with a self-reported sleep duration of five hours or less per night had an average BMI increase over a five-year period that was 1.8 kg/m2 higher, and greater accumulations of SAT (42 cm2) and VAT (13 cm2); and those who reported sleeping eight hours or more had a BMI increase that was 0.8 kg/m2 higher, as well as greater accumulations of SAT (20cm2) and VAT (6 cm2). No significant relationship existed between sleep duration and abdominal fat change in participants older than 40 years of age.

Lead author Kristen G. Hairston, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., said that obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep is important for people of all races and ethnicities. However, ethnic minorities disproportionately report extremes in sleep duration, putting them at risk for negative metabolic outcomes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“Appropriate amounts of sleep are important for maintenance of healthy weight,” said Hairston. “In a group of African-American and Hispanic participants, those who slept less than this had greater increases in belly fat over a five-year period.”

Information was obtained from 1,107 people in the IRAS Family Study, an extension of the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). Data were collected from 332 African-Americans and 775 Hispanics with a mean age of 41.7 years at baseline and an age range from 18 to 81 years. Sixty-two percent of participants were female. Mean sleep duration at baseline was 6.7 hours in response to the question, “On average, about how many hours of sleep do you get a night?” Seventeen percent of the sample reported sleeping five hours or less per night, 55 percent slept six to seven hours per night and 28 percent averaged eight or more hours of sleep per night.

Abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans and BMI were obtained at a five-year interval. Dietary intake was assessed using a short, retrospective, one-year, semi-quantitative food-frequency interview. An estimate of usual frequency of participation in vigorous activities also was obtained. Generalized estimating equations using linear regression models assessed the association between sleep duration and five-year fat accumulation with adjustment for age, race, gender, study site, baseline fat measure, physical activity, total calorie intake, smoking status and education.

In those younger than 40 years old, a short sleep duration of five hours or less was most frequently reported by Hispanic men (30 percent), and a long sleep duration of eight or more hours was most frequently reported by Hispanic women (53 percent). Participants reporting five hours of sleep or less consumed more total calories (2,224 kcal) than those reporting six to seven hours (1,920 kcal) or eight or more hours (2,199 kcal).

The authors proposed that short sleep may impact fat accumulation by promoting increased caloric intake via increased hunger, or by reducing energy expenditure via altered thermoregulation and increased fatigue. Both increased caloric intake and decreased vigorous activity were observed in the short sleep group.

The authors also suggested that it is just as important for doctors to encourage patients to get adequate sleep as it is for them to promote a healthy diet and physical activity. This is particularly relevant when young adults make transitions involving college, marriage and childbearing, because these life stages often are associated with sleep deprivation.

The study: “Sleep Duration and Five-Year Abdominal Fat Accumulation in a Minority Cohort: The IRAS Family Study

Source:
Kelly Wagner

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Amid all the speculation over what course the Swine Flu epidemic will take, Boston-based biotech firm Replikins Ltd. last week analyzed the most recent peptide genomic sequence data available and determined that the infectivity of the H1N1 virus will increase markedly, while its lethality will remain relatively low for the immediate future.

The company’s quantitative analysis of the most recent sequence data available on PubMed, a standard scientific repository for published papers, showed an increase of 46% in the Replikin Count over the past five months. This points to a marked increase in infectivity in humans. At the same time, while the total number of replikins has gone up significantly, their composition appears to have changed in a way that makes them more closely resemble their counterparts in earlier pandemics.

The firm, which had predicted a year ago the likelihood of the current H1N1 outbreak, used its proprietary FluForecast(TM) software program to make these determinations. “The dual differentiation of these properties may provide advance warning of the future course of H1N1,” noted Samuel Bogoch MD PhD, chairman and founder of Replikins Ltd. “Our understanding of the protein chemistry of rapid replication enables us to develop synthetic vaccines specifically tailored to destroy or restrict replication of the targeted virus strains prior to an outbreak.”

Earlier this month, Replikins announced that it had succeeded in synthesizing the first H1N1 influenza vaccine, which is now ready for testing. It used the same approach to produce a peptide H5N1 (avian flu) vaccine that successfully blocked low path H5N1. It has not previously been possible to correlate virus structures with a virus outbreak or cessation of outbreak, let alone to predict six to 12 months ahead of the outbreak or its cessation. In 2001, Drs. Samuel and Elenore Bogoch first demonstrated this correlation retrospectively for whole-organism replikin counts in outbreaks and pandemics of the common influenza strains over the past century.

About Replikins Ltd.

Replikins, Ltd, a Boston-based biotech company, develops and markets novel forecasting tools and synthetic vaccines to fight virulent rapidly replicating diseases including bird flu, malaria, and HIV. The company’s predictive products and vaccines in development are based upon the company’s discovery of replikins, a new group of peptides related to the rapid replication function in viral and other diseases. The company has designed unique products to predict the emergence of virulent strains of particular diseases (FluForecast(TM)) and is designing synthetic vaccines specifically tailored to combat a given strain and against shared properties of several strains (Syntope(TM) vaccines). The company is partnering with governments and the private sector in providing predictive tools and vaccines in furtherance of the public health initiative to prevent and combat epidemics.

The company’s vaccines and predictive tools are based on the company’s discovery of a new group of peptides related to rapid replication called Replikins, whose increase in concentration in virus or other organism proteins (Replikin Count(TM) = number of replikins per 100 amino acids) is associated with rapid replication.

Source: Replikins, Ltd

One of the strengths of the foundation world is its ability to be flexible; to have the ability to take an objective look at its funding capabilities and make a change even when it may not be an easy decision.

The Career Awards at the Biomedical Sciences (CABS) was the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s signature program since BWF became an independent and private foundation in 1994. Until 2006, 241 awards were given to young scientists at the postdoctoral level who were poised to go on to promising academic careers as independent researchers. BWF invested more than $100 million into the award program.

The program was so successful that it caught the attention of Nobel laureate Thomas Cech, who, in a report to the NIH by the National Academies, urged the federal government to model an award mechanism based on CABS. In January 2006, the NIH announced its Pathway to Independence awards (K99/R00), of which they would offer 175-200 a year, roughly five times the amount BWF would be able to make.

BWF prides itself on supporting underfunded areas of science. The shouldering of the career development awards by the government meant that this area had significant support. Despite its tradition of success, it was time to make a shift.

In May 2006, the BWF Board of Directors approved an award program designed to increase the number of physician-scientists into the biomedical research enterprise by providing career development funding. The newly minted Career Awards for Medical Scientists was influenced by several studies on physician-scientists, one of which went so far as to call the researchers “endangered species.”

“We had an idea that this was certainly an area where there was a need for funding,” said BWF President Dr. Queta Bond. “But the quality and quantity of the applications exceeded our expectations.”

The program drew more than 150 applications. In the end, 20 physician-scientists received the inaugural Career Awards for Medical Scientist, including a dentist and a dermatologist, firsts for BWF.

“This was a historic move and will make a tremendous difference in medicine,” Dr. George Miller, a BWF board member, remarked after the board moved to approve the awardees. “This is a pool of very good people doing incredible things.”

The 2008 Career Awards for Medical Scientists are:

*
Jonathan Paul Alexander, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California-San Francisco
Isolation of a putative alveolar stem cell population and analysis of its role in development, maintenance, and repair of the lung epithelium

*
Robert Baloh, M.D., Ph.D.
Washington University
Mechanism of peripheral neuropathy from Mitofusin 2 mutations

*
James Elliott Bradner, M.D.
Harvard University
Design and characterization of highly potent inhibitors of HDAC6

*
Clark C. Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
The molecular basis and therapeutic implications of genome instability during brain tumor progression

*
Arlene Dent, M.D., Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University
Acquisition of immunity to blood stage Falciparum malaria in infants

*
Mahalia Sabrina Desruisseaux, M.D.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Neuroparasitology: neurological complications of cerebral malaria

*
Benjamin Levine Ebert, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Genomic approaches to disorders of erythroid differentiation

*
Brian Todd Edelson, M.D., Ph.D.
Washington University
Macrophage and dendritic cell development

*
Rene L. Galindo, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center-Dallas
Genetic dissection of the Rhabdomyosarcoma initiator PAX-FKHR and PAX-related signaling in skeletal muscle development

*
Darnell Kaigler, D.D.S., Ph.D.
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Cell therapy for the treatment of alveolar bone defects

*
Michael Z. Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California-San Diego
Elucidating mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and learning by visualizing and controlling local protein turnover

*
Roger Lo, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California-Los Angeles
Melanoma in the skin: initiation, progression, and crosstalk with dermal fibroblasts

*
Emanual Maverakis, M.D.
University of California-Davis
gC399tr an inhibitor of autoimmunity

*
Eric Matthew Morrow, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Identification of autism genes in special founder populations using high-density SNP microarrays

*
Christopher Newton-Cheh, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Genomic dissection of QT interval duration and sudden death

*
Dao Nguyen, M.D.
University of Washington
The stringent response in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation and antibiotic tolerance

*
Anil Potti, M.D.
Duke University
Gene expression patterns coupled with signatures of oncogenic pathway deregulation provide a novel approach to targeted therapeutics in non-small cell lung carcinoma

*
Alice Shaw, M.D., Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Novel biomarkers and targeted therapies for human lung cancer: translation from a mouse model

*
Joseph C. Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
Stanford University
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of cardiac regeneration

*
Mark Nan Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania
Identification of novel genes that regulate sleep in Drosophila melanogaster

###

ABOUT THE FUND

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent, private foundation dedicated to advancing the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities. A majority of its grantmaking is made through competitive programs designed to support the career development of young scientists and to build capacity in undervalued research areas.

Contact: Russ Campbell

Burroughs Wellcome Fund

ORLANDO, FL (UroToday) – When should one clamp the renal hilum at partial nephrectomy?

Never — according to investigators from Nara, Japan. Fujimoto and colleagues report a series of 162 patients (167 renal units) who underwent partial nephrectomy for tumors 4 cm or less. Tissue was resected using a microwave tissue coagulator (MCT). Median blood loss was 200cc (5-2,982). Five patients underwent nephrectomy for uncontrolled bleeding, prolonged urine leak, or “oncological” reasons. Overall cancer-specific outcomes were consistent with other series. No significant changes in renal function as judged by creatinine clearance were seen even in patients with imperative indications for surgery. These results are noteworthy, as the authors avoided renal ischemia in all cases.

Further investigation of MCT in renal surgery is warranted.

Presented by Kiyohide Fujimoto, MD, Nobumichi Tanaka, MD, Eijiro Okajima, MD, and Yoshihiko Hirao, MD, at the Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) – May 17 – 22, 2008. Orange County Convention Center – Orlando, Florida, USA.

Reported by UroToday Contributing Editor Alexander Kutikov, MD

UroToday – the only urology website with original content global urology key opinion leaders actively engaged in clinical practice.

To access the latest urology news releases from UroToday, go to:
www.urotoday

Copyright © 2008 – UroToday

A new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) reports that the number of prescriptions in Canada for cardiovascular medications has been increasing over the last ten years. There has been a 200 percent increase in costs. Overall costs of cardiovascular medications exceeded $5 billion in 2006. And statins accounted for nearly 40 percent of the expenditure.

Exercising a considerable public burden, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death and disability in Canada. Cardiovascular drugs are the most frequently prescribed medications in the country, and expenditures outpace overall drug prescription increases.

Costs are predicted to rise to around $10.6 billion in 2020 if this tendency continues. This could threaten the sustainability of public drug insurance programs. In 2007, Canadians spent 17 cents of every healthcare dollar on medication. This represents a 16 percent increase in comparative healthcare spending since 1997.

There are factors that can only partially explain the significant increase in costs, such as population growth, increasing rates of hypertension, pharmaceutical cost inflation and an ageing population. Across the provinces, there are differences, such as higher costs in the east. Increases in prescription volume and use of new and more expensive cardiovascular medications are also encouraging this rise. But this approach requires further examination since some recognized older drugs could be the best cost-effective option.

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius, a researcher at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto and Western University of Health Sciences in Ponoma, USA and coauthors from the Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Tea (CCORT) explain: “We found that the medication classes with the greatest increases in prescriptions dispensed and associated expenditures were angiotensin receptor blockers, antiplatelets, statins and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors.” Several of these medications are brand name drugs. The authors advise that older drugs may still be the best choice.

Researchers participating in the CCORT initiative conducted the study. It included experts from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, and Western University of Health Sciences in Ponoma, USA; Dalhousie University; Laval University; University of Ottawa Heart Institute; Statistics Canada; McGill University and University of British Columbia.

The authors write in conclusion: “Given the magnitude of growth of the expenditures involved, ensuring the prescribing of cost-effective medications is essential.”

In an associated note, Dr. Robert Califf from Duke University Medical Center explains that the higher costs of cardiovascular medication prescribing could have the effect of a health benefit that would be worth the increases in spending. He comments that precise data such as prescribing information should be included in electronic medical records. This could provide rapid evidence about the optimum medications for patient conditions and could be integrated into practice.

“Long-term trends in use of and expenditures for cardiovascular medications in Canada”
Cynthia A. Jackevicius, PharmD MSc, Jafna L. Cox, BA MD, Daniel Carreon, BSc, Jack V. Tu, MD PhD, StГ©phane Rinfret, MD MSc, Derek So, MD, Helen Johansen, PhD, Dimitri Kalavrouziotis, MD MSc, Virginie Demers, MD, Karin Humphries, MBA DSc, Louise Pilote, MD PhD for the Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team
doi:10.1503/cmaj.081913

“Rational use of medications: If Canada can’t do it …”
Robert M. Califf, MD
doi:10.1503/cmaj.090861
cmaj

Stephanie Brunner (B.A.)

New models, reinforced by in vivo experimentation, show why 5-10% of bone fractures don’t heal properly, and how these cases may be treated to restart the healing process. Results of the model, published September 2 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, may benefit the ageing population in which the occurrence of bone fractures is expected to rise substantially in the near future.

In 5 to 10% of bone fracture cases, the healing process does not succeed in repairing the bone, which leads to the formation of delayed unions or even non-unions – fractures that fail to heal. Using a combination of an animal model mimicking a clinical non-union situation and a mathematical model developed for studying normal fracture healing, researchers at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), University of LiГЁge (Belgium), Edinburgh University (United Kingdom) and Oxford University (United Kingdom) investigated this health problem.

For example, the authors investigated the potential to treat non-unions by transplanting cells from the bone marrow to the fracture site. This was also tested in a pilot animal experiment; both the simulations and the experiments showed the formation of a bony union between the fractured bone ends. In addition, the researchers used the mathematical model to explain some unexpected experimental observations.

The study demonstrates the added value of using a combination of mathematical modelling and experimental research, as well the potential of using cell transplantation for the treatment of non-unions.

Link to published article:

CITATION:
Geris L, Reed AAC, Vander Sloten J, Simpson AHRW, Van Oosterwyck H (2010) Occurrence and Treatment of Bone Atrophic Non-Unions Investigated by an Integrative Approach. PLoS Comput Biol 6(9): e1000915. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000915

Source:
Liesbet Geris
Public Library of Science

A research team from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) has analysed the presence of heavy metals in 12 species of mushroom collected from non-contaminated natural areas, and has found that the levels vary depending on the type of mushroom. The results of the study, which appears this month in the journal Biometals, show that the largest quantities of lead and neodymium are found in chanterelles.

“The aim was to find out if there is a connection between the concentrations of specific heavy metals detected in the mushrooms, based on three factors: the type of substrate, the study area and the species of mushroom. The third was the determining factor”, explains Juan Antonio Campos, principal author of the study and researcher at the Department of Crop Production and Agricultural Technology at UCLM.

The researchers have analysed the presence of lead (Pb), neodymium (Nd), thorium (Th) and uranium (U) in a hundred samples of 12 different species of common mushroom, both edible and non-edible, collected from non-contaminated zones in the Ciudad Real province. They were collected from wooded areas comprising Holm oak, Kermes oak, Pyrenean oak, Pine and Cistus.

The results of the study, published this month in the journal Biometals, reveal that there are ‘considerable’ quantities of the four metals in all the species examined, as well as significant differences in the capacity for accumulation of these elements depending on the species.

The analysis of these heavy metals – which can be toxic to humans – was carried out using X-ray fluorescence spectometry, a technique that enables a sample’s composition to be detected and quantified using X-rays.

The highest levels of neodymium (7.1 micrograms/gram) and lead (4.86 Вµg/g) were found in the chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), a mushroom widely used in European cuisine. This mushroom grows in the shadow of Holm oaks, Cork oaks and oaks, and is ectomycorrhizal (it clings to the external roots of plants to exchange nutrients), thereby it has direct contact with the mineral particles of the soil.

For their part, thorium and uranium accumulated mostly in Hypholoma fasciculare, with concentrations of 3.63 and 4.13 Вµg/g, respectively, “despite being a species that lives on fallen tree trunks and is isolated from the mineral substances of the soil”.

The scientists found no significant differences in the metal levels when comparing mushrooms collected from different substrates, habitats and localisations. The only exception was with thorium, which accumulates more in mushrooms which grow on wood (such as Hypholoma fasciculare or Gymnopilus spectabilis) than in those which have contact with the organic material of the soil (Tricoloma ustaloides and Pisolithus arrhizus).

New lines of research

To confirm that the type of substrate can take on a more important role than reflected in the study, the researchers have embarked on a new project in which they will analyse the presence of 19 chemical elements (toxic and non-toxic) in 15 species of edible mushroom.

“The real issue is that those mushrooms that form ectomycorrhizae are specially adapted to absorb chemical elements from the mineral particles of the soil, and give them to the plant. This is their contribution to symbiosis, and, the more effective they are in providing nutritional elements to the plant, the closer their connection to it, and the more sugars from photosynthesis they can access, which is what they are ultimately looking for”, explains Juan Antonio Campos.

This type of mushroom carries out an indiscriminate acid attack on the mineral particles of the soil and absorbs elements in quantities relative to the mineralogical composition of the soil. “In some contaminated soils, or those with particular mineralogical characteristics, the mushrooms collected can reach such high concentrations of toxic elements that their consumption would be unadvisable”, reveals the researcher.

References:
Juan A. Campos, Noel A. Tejera y Carlos J. SГЎnchez. “Substrate role in the accumulation of heavy metals in sporocarps of wild fungi”. Biometals 22 (5): 835-841, octubre de 2009.

Source: SINC

FECYT – Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

The kidney dialysis industry has begun to highlight concerns about racial disparities to “fend off criticism that it fattens profits by overprescribing an anemia drug” — Epogen, manufactured by Amgen — that can increase risk for death and heart attacks when administered at high doses, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the Journal, the industry has begun “playing up the fact” that black patients often require higher doses of Epogen and would “suffer disproportionately from any curbs” on Medicare reimbursements for the medication as proposed in legislation recently passed by the House.

The industry has cited data from the U.S. Renal Data System, which has found that black patients in 2004 received 20,633 doses of Epogen per week, compared with 17,806 doses per week for white patients. No definitive studies exist on the reason why black patients require higher doses of Epogen, but some experts cite the high rates of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and poverty among black patients (Johnson, Wall Street Journal, 9/11).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently examined the safety and quality of “wash techniques” used in the production of packaged produce. The study, published in HortScience, simulated washing techniques to learn more about how industry practices affect quality and safety of pre-cut lettuce.

Yaguang Luo, PhD, Research Food Technologist at the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Produce Quality and Safety Laboratory, headed the study of produce wash techniques used in the commercial preparation of pre-cut fruits and vegetables. Luo explained that recent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses associated with the consumption of fresh-cut produce underscored the importance of ensuring food safety of these packaged convenience foods.

He noted that washing the produce is an important step commonly employed by the industry to maintain the quality and safety of fresh and fresh-cut produce. Prior to the study, however, little information existed about how wash operation and water re-use techniques affected the water quality, the efficacy of sanitizers on the reduction of microorganisms, or the quality and shelf life of packaged products. Luo explained: “The main objective of the research was to examine the dynamic interactions among wash operation, water quality, and sanitizer efficacy and product quality. We investigated the effect of produce washing techniques, including simulated water re-use, and the ratio between product weight and wash water volume on the water quality and effectiveness of sanitizers used to reduce microorganisms.”

The researchers found that procedures in which water was re-used during the washing process led to rapid accumulation of organic matter in wash water and compromised the efficacy of sanitizers. According to Luo, “It is generally known that water re-use can cause water quality loss. The value of this research is that it reveals the complex effects of the foreign matter that is washed from produce on water quality and product quality, and it provides specific information on how wash operation variables (such as re-use of the same tank of water with increasing amount of cut product being washed) affect the water quality.” The study also demonstrated the direct effect of wash water quality on product quality.

Luo concluded that results of the USDA study should define relationships among produce wash operations, water quality and product quality, giving produce packers new tools for enhancing food safety and quality.

###

Click here to access the complete study and abstract.

Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education and application. More information at ashs/

Source: Michael W. Neff

American Society for Horticultural Science