Overview

Salmonella is a leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States and around the world, disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations. It cost the U.S. economy $3.7 billion annually, with 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths, with unchanged rates for three decades despite national goals. Salmonella has become a “One Health” issue requiring collaborative efforts across the animal-human-environment interface, recognizing that all are interconnected. To resolve this issue, the proposed project, through collaboration with the end-to-end supply chain, food banks, and educators, will create SENS-D, a sensor-enabled decision support system. SENS-D will incorporate multiple rapid sensing technologies along with visualization, prediction, and optimization capabilities to provide data-driven solutions to mitigate foodborne pathogen risks for a safe, equitable, efficient, and resilient food system.

Description

Our interdisciplinary team, consisting of 19 investigators encompassing expertise in Public Health, Poultry Science, Food Science, Animal Science, Supply Chain Analytics, Engineering, Analytics, and ML/AI, is well-positioned to address this public health concern. This collaborative effort has allowed us to work toward our common goal - a timely solution for a safe, equitable food system. The research team is working alongside multisectoral partners for broader and faster adoption to address the unique needs of disadvantaged populations in food nutrition, accessibility, and equity. SENS-D develops innovative sensing technologies and prototypes of the sensing systems for rapid detection and quantification of Salmonella serovars along the poultry supply chain. This technology enables detection within 10 to 60 minutes and is coupled with a data-driven decision-support system (DSS). This holistic approach deploys sensors across the supply chain and integrates real-time sensing results into a centralized “One Health” data environment encompassing population health, poultry/food production, and environmental data, that empowers the DSS. By combining results from samples collected throughout the food supply chain, the project ensures a comprehensive understanding of contamination dynamics. The DSS features (1) optimization models for sensor placement in the food supply chain, (2) intelligent distribution of perishable foods in cold chain operations while considering the predicted Salmonella levels and shelf-life of products, (3) workforce planning and targeted outreach to vulnerable populations at high-risk for Salmonella infections, and (4) analytical toolkit for evaluating policies and interventions to reduce and prevent the spread of Salmonella infections. SENS-D's potential goes beyond poultry, with adaptability to detect pathogens in beef, pork, dairy, and produce, ultimately reducing the $152 billion economic burden of foodborne illness in the US. Implementing this technology ensures equitable food security for local and global consumers.

Differentiators

Salmonella detection for poultry uses either traditional culture techniques taking 5-7 days, or the more popular PCR technologies that have reduced the time to result to approximately 24 hours. Yet, this is not rapid enough to make effective food safety decisions in the fast-paced poultry industry. This project develops and employs three user-friendly sensors that reduce testing time to between 10 and 60 minutes. In addition, efforts to tackle Salmonella have been siloed, and there is a lack of data environments for the end-to-end supply chain to evaluate the efforts aimed at reducing Salmonella infections. The status quo has not connected the testing results to population health, poultry/food production, and environmental data either. This disconnect hinders informed timely decisions by stakeholders, impeding efforts to mitigate and prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses. SENS-D uses a holistic approach of integrating (1) sensor results from portable sensing systems, (2) data spanning social and population health to poultry production as inputs for (3) a DSS that enables various stakeholders to make informed decisions throughthe SENS-D dashboard. This transformative technology aligns with the USDA’s Roadmap for Reducing Salmonella and the 2023-26 Strategic Plan, highlighting the need for technology-enabled decision support systems and collaborative intelligence tools to address food security while ensuring a safe food supply.

Road Map

The main deliverables for the Salmonella sensing technologies are portable sensing systems capable of storing, transmitting, and analyzing sensor inputs for real-time data system integration. Key milestones: • July 2026: Validate sensors using real-world poultry samples, to ensure compliance. • August 2026: Incorporate real-time sensing results into the cloud-based data environment. • December 2026: Construct three sensors and sensing systems to detect Salmonella serovars. The major deliverable for our DSS is a high-fidelity prototype with data visualization, risk prediction, and optimization. Key milestones: • November 2026: o Optimization of sensor placement along supply chain. o Intelligent distribution in cold chain operations with spatial and temporal prediction of Salmonella level and shelf-life. o Integrated workforce planning to implement the system for industry and targeted health outreach. • December 2026: o Refine user interface by deploying a dashboard in Missouri to target outreach for high-risk populations. o The policy and intervention analytical tool kit. An advisory board will be formed with representation from poultry production, processing, population health, and vulnerable communities to address topics such as data sharing, research priorities, implementation, fast feedback loops for iterative technology development, and knowledge translation.

Partnerships

We have built partnerships with prominent companies across the food supply chain, including Cargill, Wayne-Sanderson Farms, LTI Distributors, and Save-a-Lot. These companies will provide commercial poultry samples and serve on our advisory board. Additionally, we have fostered collaborative relationships with food banks, the Missouri Extension educators, and a national public health agency to facilitate outreach initiatives with vulnerable populations. Phase I solidified our ties with stakeholders across the poultry food supply chain. In Phase II, our focus will shift toward stronger partnership with policymakers (e.g. USDA FSIS), public health, and engineering firms to build prototype sensing systems and utilizing ESRI ArcGIS (Geographic Information Systems). The SENS-D will be piloted in an experimental setting for the end-to-end supply chain & Missouri in Phase II. We are in discussions with potential advisory board members and open to more partners.

Intellectual Property

The SENS-D system's intellectual property is in progress within the research team. We have received 2 patents, submitted 2 U.S. patent and 3 provisional patent applications. IP agreements for shared data, models, etc., are in development with Phase II partners. Phase II involves explore licensing options, through forming a new company or partners, with an emphasis on speed to market and maximizing the scope of impact.