PSLA hosted Dr. Linda Harris (5th May 2016)
Dr. Linda Harris
The Bugs Among the Nuts – Angela Ferelli (and PLSC689A)
Salmonellosis outbreaks in the tree nut industry have sparked research into the safety associated with the harvesting and processing of these products. Before 1995 tree nuts, grown high in the trees and being a low moisture food, were not classically associated with human disease. Dr. Linda Harris, a specialist in nutmeats from the University of California in Davis, was among the first to develop methods for isolating pathogens in nut orchards and describing bacterial growth dynamics at various stages of nut processing. Her seminar was focused on three major tree nut varieties, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, and how several Salmonella serovars have found favorable environments within the nuts and orchards in which they are grown. Research alludes to a “resident pathogen” theory held by many food processing scientists.
