EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University researchers were awarded nearly $3 million in grants from the USDA to support three food safety projects.

 One group of scientists will focus on ways to ensure low-moisture foods are safe. Another team will work on developing food safety training to standardize safe handling of food around the world. The third will study ways to keep ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables safe for consumers.

The awards were announced by Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan during a visit to MSU in December 2011. MSU received three of 17 grants totaling $10.4 million, which were awarded to universities in 13 states by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

The focus of the grants is to improve the safety of the food supply through research, education and extension. “With millions of Americans contracting foodborne illnesses each year, USDA is committed supporting research that improves the safety of our nation’s food supply,” Merrigan said. “Primarily, we expect that the research and education spurred by these grants will find solutions to some pressing food safety issues.

“Additionally, we want to help American consumers, restaurant employees and teachers put new food safety principles into practice. Ensuring the safety of food is a top priority for USDA, and we will continue to work with our public and private sector partners on developing solutions to decrease potential risks.”

The three professors are part of the recently created MSU Food Safety Group. This team comprises about 30 MSU researchers from more than 10 departments working with other universities around the world to improve food safety.

Professor of food science and human nutrition Elliott Ryser will use a $1.8 million grant to explore ways to reduce contamination by E. coli, salmonella and listeria during the processing, packaging and retail distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables. Ryser will work with colleagues from MSU, the International Food Protection Training Institute in Battle Creek, California Polytechnic State University, Rutgers University and The Ohio State University to improve the microbial safety of cantaloupe, tomatoes and many other ready-to-eat, fresh-cut produce.

Les Bourquin, also a professor of food science and human nutrition, was awarded $543,000 to develop safety education and training programs for the food industry. With many outbreaks caused by food-handling errors by employees, this project will introduce standardized, competency-based processes modeled after internationally accepted criteria to reduce human error. Bourquin will work with colleagues from MSU, OSU and the University of Maryland-Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Brad Marks, professor of biosystems engineering, received nearly $542,824 to improve pasteurization methods for low-moisture food products. His team will work to generate low-moisture foods using innovative technologies such as radio frequency energy, low-energy X-ray and fluid-based heating.

Salmonella is known to be extremely resistant to lethal treatments on foods such as almonds, wheat flour and peanut butter. Working with colleagues from Washington State University, Marks’ goal is to give the food industry sound scientific data, knowledge and tools to ensure the effectiveness of preventing outbreaks.

“Michigan State has one of the largest and most respected groups of food safety researchers in the country,” said Ian Gray, vice president for research and graduate studies. “We recognize the global need for an integrated, systems-based approach to solving the problems of foodborne illness and believe that MSU should leverage its outstanding research advantage to take a leadership role in this arena.”

Other grant recipients include: Tuskegee University, $100,000; University of Arizona, Tucson, $542,969; Fort Valley State University, $100,000; University of Georgia, Athens, $535,725; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, $424,878; North Carolina State University, Raleigh, $541,621; OSU, Columbus, $1,864,665; Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, $543,000; Pennsylvania State University, State College, $542,607; Clemson University, $542,999; Tennessee State University, Nashville, $100,000; University of Tennessee, Knoxville, $542,977; Texas Tech University, Lubbock, $540,326; and University of Wisconsin, Madison, $541,313.