he U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a $2 million grant to Cornell University, Colorado State University and the University of Nebraska to examine ways to control the deadly foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Colorado State will be the lead institution on this project, and Cornell's Martin Wiedmann, professor of food science, will serve as the co-primary investigator.

The research is expected to result in helping curtail the pathogen's spread along the food chain through a comprehensive research and outreach approach that includes development and application of interventions at the food processing, retailer and consumer levels.

One out of every five listeriosis patients dies. Listeria kills about 500 people each year in the United States, and infections are primarily caused by contaminated ready-to-eat foods. Detecting Listeria is challenging, said Wiedmann, particularly in food products where it is present in low numbers or where competing organisms are present. "Studying the ecology of Listeria on farms, in food processing plants and in retail environments, and understanding the epidemiology of human listeriosis will help us better understand its transmission, and it will allow development of improved control and prevention strategies," he said.

The scientists will organize a national scientific symposium to assess the current knowledge of Listeria monocytogenes transmission along the food chain. And to help focus the research efforts of the project, educational manuals, computer programs for modeling, pamphlets and electronic training materials will be developed through and will be distributed to food processors, food service-retail operators, consumer groups and heath-care providers.

In addition to his Cornell teaching and research, Wiedmann has been teaching commercial food processors how to prevent Listeria contamination in their plants. In 2004 he published a study that showed that despite the efforts of food retailers and food-processing plant managers to maintain a clean, safe environment, strains of the pathogen persist for up to a year or longer in plant and retail environments.