Food safety and defense for animal products: testing and rapid detection
Official title: Texas Animal Food Product Testing and Food Defense for Microbiology, Chemistry, and Radiochemistry.
Funded at Texas A&m Agrilife Research · NIH-11422079 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant funds a program to strengthen US animal-food testing for microbes, chemicals, and radiation, with rapid methods and capacity building at a Texas state lab to protect animal and human health.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Texas A&m Agrilife Research NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (College Station, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | July 1, 2025 |
| Project end | June 30, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $600,000 |
| NIH project number | 5U19FD008625-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11422079 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable to patients; applicable to public health and food safety consumers.
✕Less likely to help
Direct clinical patients are not the focus; benefits are realized through safer animal foods and reduced risk to people handling such foods.
What this research studies
The Office of the Texas State Chemist will expand its laboratories to advance microbiology, chemistry, and radiochemistry testing for animal food products. The project includes method development, validation, and maintaining ISO accreditation, plus collaboration with FDA and state partners for sample collection and compliance. It will implement targeted controls for Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli, perform non-target screenings, and use food-defense methods to improve safety and defense capabilities. The work also covers whole-genome sequencing maintenance and capacity expansion to handle increasing testing demands. This multi-year effort aims to strengthen the integrated US food safety system related to animal-derived foods.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, it could lead to faster, more accurate detection of contamination in animal foods and stronger security against food-borne threats.
How similar studies have gone: Previous and ongoing food-safety testing programs have shown that integrated testing and capacity-building improve detection and response times.
Where this research is happening
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Texas A&m Agrilife Research
College Station, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Herrman, Timothy John — Texas A&m Agrilife Research
- Study coordinator: Herrman, Timothy John
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.