{"id":1510,"date":"2023-08-09T09:25:24","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T13:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/?p=1510"},"modified":"2025-07-25T10:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:33:03","slug":"detecting-foodborne-pathogens-in-dairy-strengthening-research-partnerships-and-capacity-in-senegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/detecting-foodborne-pathogens-in-dairy-strengthening-research-partnerships-and-capacity-in-senegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Strengthening Research Partnerships and Capacity for Dairy Food Safety in Senegal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rapid growth of Senegal\u2019s dairy sector has outpaced the implementation of food safety practices and policies to reduce the risk of foodborne disease from the consumption of raw and fermented milk. Recent outreach by a project funded by the FSIL\u00a0has equipped partners at the\u00a0Food Technology Institute (ITA)<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA)<\/a>\u00a0with knowledge and tools to detect and identify foodborne pathogens in the domestic milk supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo date, Senegal\u2019s milk production and processing industries have not yet been thoroughly studied beyond a literature review and a handful of student theses,\u201d said\u00a0Woubit Abebe<\/a>, professor and director of the\u00a0Center for Food Animal Health, Food Safety and Food Defense<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Department of Pathobiology<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Tuskegee University<\/a>\u00a0and co-principal investigator (PI) of the FSIL dairy safety project. \u201cOur partners in Senegal will be identifying the issues and pathogens relevant to the sector that deserve a closer look.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal of the four-year project, led by project PI\u00a0Manpreet Singh<\/a>, department head and professor of\u00a0Food Science and Technology<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0University of Georgia<\/a>, is to build food safety capacity in Senegal\u2019s dairy sector, reduce foodborne disease and improve market access. At the heart of the project\u2019s current work is a survey of small, traditional dairy producers that will offer insights into microbial safety, socioeconomics and gender roles in Senegal\u2019s dairy sector. It includes responses from 158 producers from three regions responsible for 38% of the country\u2019s milk supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this project will provide a breakthrough in understanding the major pathogens associated with milk quality and safety in Senegal,\u201d Abebe said.<\/p>\n

Abebe visited project partners at ISRA and ITA in the spring to prepare the researchers to conduct testing on milk samples from the producers who participated in the survey. The team worked through detailed protocols outlining the method that will be used for microbial quality assessment \u2014 from sample size determination and sample collection to genetic analysis of pathogenic bacteria.<\/p>\n

At ITA, the academic home to the project\u2019s in-country co-lead Dr. Cheikh Ndiaye, Abebe introduced lab staff to food safety lab techniques to identify milk from cows with mastitis and other infections that increase the risk of foodborne illness. They included somatic cell counts, which identify milk from cows with udder infections by the presence of immune system cells, and California mastitis testing, which measures inflammation as a proxy for infection. Their use is widespread in the United States and other countries, but not yet common in Senegal, and both can be performed using commercial kits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kit is a very cheap and accessible tool that will help you determine the milk quality,\u201d Abebe said.<\/p>\n

In addition, in a presentation to some 20 ITA staff, Abebe focused on the importance of diagnosis, prevention and management of mastitis, laboratory biosafety and biosecurity.<\/p>\n

All molecular genetic work to identify which pathogens are present in milk samples will be completed at the ISRA labs, whose established field stations are equipped with refrigerators and staffed with technicians to collect the milk samples. At ISRA, Abebe worked with staff, including Dr. Fatou Tall Lo, head of the microbiology department, and engineer Aida Diop, focusing on genetic analysis to identify foodborne pathogens in milk samples. As the project advances, the labs will process samples to isolate, characterize and identify priority organisms for Senegal\u2019s milk safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were honored to have Dr. Abebe in our lab and have her share her experience with mastitis diagnosis and milk quality assessment, we intend to strengthen this collaboration through the project\u2019s activities,\u201d said Dr. Lo. \u201cThe procedures she shared are being adapted in the laboratory, particularly for genetic diagnosis. The supplies she brought for detection of certain foodborne pathogens will allow us to better improve research for better food security.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data on foodborne pathogens in milk, along with the survey data on current dairy food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices, will be used to develop outreach programs to strengthen food safety during milk production. Ultimately, Abebe is hopeful that it will not only advance the project\u2019s goal of raising awareness about food safety issues, but it will also inform science-based food safety regulations and create economic opportunities for women and youth, who play a vital role in Senegal\u2019s dairy sector. Long-term, sustainable change will require strong local research capacity, and her partnership with colleagues at ISRA and ITA fuels her optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found the people to be wonderful, very cooperative and ready to proceed and help out,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir capabilities are exactly what we need to conduct the research.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post was written by Olivia Hall, freelance writer with the\u00a0<\/em>Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety (FSIL)<\/em><\/a>. The Innovation Lab for Food Safety is one of a network of 20 such labs led by U.S. universities under\u00a0<\/em>Feed the Future<\/em>, the U.S. government\u2019s global hunger and food security initiative led by\u00a0<\/em>USAID<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rapid growth of Senegal\u2019s dairy sector has outpaced the implementation of food safety practices and policies to reduce the risk of foodborne disease from the consumption of raw and fermented milk. Recent outreach by a project funded by the FSIL\u00a0has equipped partners at the\u00a0Food Technology Institute (ITA)\u00a0and the\u00a0Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA)\u00a0with knowledge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-program-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1510"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2475,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions\/2475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}