Enhancing Tennessee’s Food Safety Testing Lab to Help Prevent Foodborne Illness
Official title: Enhance the Capacity and Capabilities of Tennessee's Human and Animal Food Testing Laboratory in support of an Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS)
Funded at Tn State Department of Agriculture · NIH-11418751 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A large-scale project will help Tennessee labs generate high-quality food sample data to support a safer, more preventive food safety system.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Tn State Department of Agriculture NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Nashville, United States) |
| Project start | September 20, 2025 |
| Project end | June 30, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $625,000 |
| NIH project number | 5U19FD008596-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11418751 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable to patients; this grant supports laboratory data generation for food safety surveillance and prevention.
✕Less likely to help
There is no direct patient participation in this project.
What this research studies
This project partners with state laboratories to produce a big set of reliable food samples and results. The data will help drive risk-based decisions for preventing hazards in our food supply, in coordination with the FDA and Tennessee regulators. The work focuses on real-world testing of consumer foods to support surveillance, trend tracking, and future sampling priorities. It aims to strengthen the capacity of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s labs and their ability to work with federal and state partners. The effort is public health oriented and designed to benefit food safety for the broader community.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, it could improve early detection of food safety issues and guide better prevention strategies to protect consumers.
How similar studies have gone: Similar data-driven, prevention-focused food safety programs have improved surveillance and response in several states.
Where this research is happening
-
Tn State Department of Agriculture
Nashville, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kumar, Rahul — Tn State Department of Agriculture
- Study coordinator: Kumar, Rahul
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.