{"id":360,"date":"2020-12-03T23:38:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T23:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/?p=360"},"modified":"2025-07-25T10:20:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:20:26","slug":"investing-in-cambodias-food-safety-capacity-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/investing-in-cambodias-food-safety-capacity-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Investing in Cambodia\u2019s Food Safety Capacity During the Coronavirus Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first challenge faced by the\u00a0Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety<\/a>\u2019s inaugural project in Cambodia was not one they expected \u2013 how to maintain momentum in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and international lockdowns. In response, the\u00a0Kansas State University<\/a>–Purdue University<\/a>–Royal University of Agriculture<\/a>\u00a0(RUA) partnership fast-tracked the building of Cambodian food safety expertise and research capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe partnership that we have with RUA is so critical to our success,\u201d said Jessie Vipham, co-principal investigator (PI) and assistant professor of animal sciences and industry at Kansas State University. \u201cIf there is a silver lining to the pandemic\u2019s disruption of our project, it\u2019s that by pivoting to greater reliance on the researchers at the RUA, Cambodia is developing greater capacity in research that benefits public health and nutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the lockdown, the team completed a preliminary assessment of bacterial contamination on vegetables in distribution centers. The centers are essential infrastructure in Cambodia\u2019s food system, connecting vendors with produce to sell to consumers in the country\u2019s ubiquitous open-air markets, but they are also possible sources for cross-contamination. In previous work funded by USAID, Vipham and collaborator Lyda Hok, director of the\u00a0Center of Excellence on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Nutrition\u00a0(CE SAIN), documented high levels of pathogenic bacteria on vegetables in fresh food markets found in two provinces,\u00a0Siem Reap and Battambang.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood systems are complex, and it is difficult to control foodborne pathogens at all levels, so\u00a0you need to identify the locations that contribute the most to people coming into contact with a foodborne pathogen,\u201d said Vipham. \u201cThis project will enable us to focus on areas where changes in practices can lead to a measurable reduction in the risk of contamination of vegetables that reach the consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the team is awaiting final confirmation of results, preliminary data suggest that bacterial contamination was high within the distribution centers, with some seasonal fluctuation. To reduce contamination in downstream markets, distribution centers are a priority for food safety interventions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood safety interventions involve changing behaviors, and behavior changes are generally driven by awareness of the impact of an action,\u201d said Paul Ebner, project co-PI and professor of animal sciences at Purdue. \u201cTo design effective interventions, we need a handle on current perceptions of food safety, so we can target those gaps to build greater awareness or greater acceptance for food safety practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the pandemic prevented Ebner\u2019s team from traveling to Cambodia to lead the survey work, the development of the survey was converted into an experiential learning opportunity in survey design for Hok\u2019s team, culminating in their official third-party certification to conduct research with human subjects.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of the new training, we were able to add a pilot study and validate and revise the survey, and so the process made the survey much more robust,\u201d Ebner said. \u201cWe’ve been able to continue working successfully through the pandemic, and it’s entirely because of existing strong relationships between Feed the Future Innovation Labs and the Royal University of Agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAmanda Garris is a communications specialist with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first challenge faced by the\u00a0Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety\u2019s inaugural project in Cambodia was not one they expected \u2013 how to maintain momentum in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and international lockdowns. In response, the\u00a0Kansas State University–Purdue University–Royal University of Agriculture\u00a0(RUA) partnership fast-tracked the building of Cambodian food safety expertise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","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\/360","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions\/2458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ag.purdue.edu\/food-safety-innovation-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}