The focus of the research in the Food Microbiology Laboratory at the Geneva New York Experiment Station revolves around the prevention of food borne illness and spoilage organisms in fruits and vegetables. Current research is ongoing investigating antibacterial proteins and peptides, termed bacteriocins, that are produced by lactic acid bacteria as a future alternative to traditional food preservatives. Presently John Churey and Sejong Oh are actively involved in the chemical and genetic characterization of bacteriocins that are capable of inhibiting food borne pathogens.

Another research area that has received positive feed back both at the farmer and government level is investigating chemical and physical alternatives to thermal pasteurization for fruit juices, particularily apple cider. Apple cider was recently implicated in numerous foodborne outbreaks. The causative pathogen was found to be E. coli O157:H7. In New York state as well as the North East region of the United States are large producers of apple cider. Very often, apple cider is produced in the fall with the onset of the ripening of apple crops. Many apple orchardists press apple cider from the apples they produce. Since the quantity of apple cider they produce is very small and for a very short period of time (4 weeks) the purchase of thermal pasteurization units is an expensive business venture.

In an attempt to provide an inexpensive pasteurization equivalent, Phil Hartman and Patrick Borrelli of FPE Inc. (Rochester, New York) developed a UV apparatus that has been found to be effective in killing E. coli O157:H7. John Churey and Randy Worobo have been performing microbiological testing of the UV apparatus and it¹s effectiveness in killing E. coli O157:H7 in apple cider. Tests using three different strains of E. coli O157:H7 and the UV apparatus have shown that a ³pasteurization equivalent² is reached with a single pass at approximately 3 gallons per minute. A pasteurization equivalent is the same treatment as thermal pasteurization that is capable of killing 100 000 E. coli O157:H7/ milliliter of apple cider. Testing is presently investigating the effectiveness of the UV apparatus against other food borne pathogens that are associated with apple cider and other fruit juices. The FPE Inc. UV apparatus appears to be a very effective alternative to thermal pasteurization. Dr. Mark McLellan has performed consumer sensory tests on the UV treated apple cider and the results of this showed that consumers were unable to differentiate between untreated cider and UV treated cider.