b'have genetic diversity, you can do breed-ing long-term.RECALLS THROUGHOUT 2018However, Melotto knows there are a lot of roadblocks in the way between breed- 2018 seemed like a year full of large recalls. However, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations ing for food safety and the future. database, the number of food and cosmetic recalls were down from 2017in 2018, we saw 1,958 total recalls First, we dont know enough, sheacross the board, while in 2017, we saw a whopping 3,609. said. There are large knowledge gaps, so we need a lot of foundational work.But what were the biggest recalls of 2018 that made NIFA and UC Davis want to have this conference?Even then, if you fill those gaps, we willRomaine Lettuce. There were a total of three romaine lettuce outbreaks in 2018, starting with one in January, have challenges in screening popula-tions. Theres a huge cost in screeningfollowed by one in April and finally ending with an outbreak in November, right before Thanksgiving.for human pathogensto handle theseEggs. Throughout the year, eggs were recalled multiple times due to salmonella concerns. In April, more than pathogens, youre handling medical200 million white eggs distributed by Rose Acres Farms were recalled.waste. So its costly. Finally, its hard to assess the benefits, because diseaseBeef. In December, JBS Tolleson recalled more than 12 million pounds of beef products that were contaminated outbreaks are relatively rare events andwith salmonella. Also, in September, Cargill Meat Solutions recalled around 132,000 pounds of ground beef over E. hard to predict. If we could, we wouldntcoli concerns. be talking here. Melotto said that its a big jump fromWegmans Cauliflower. In December, the grocery store Wegmans issued a recall on its cauliflower stir-fry talking about breeding for safer food,mixtures due to E. coli. to actually breeding for safer food. HerReady-to-Eat Foods. In October, at least a dozen companies recalled millions of pounds of ready-to-eat food solution? We need to start preparing and planning for it.due to salmonella concerns, including Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Walmart and Harris Teeter. This included salads, burritos and wraps. Current Breeding ProjectsWhile breeding for food safety has not been top-of-mind there are a fewMoving Forwardprojects that are starting to look at foodThe most pressing question now is: How safety as a priority to complement yielddo we move forward from here?and uniformity. One such project is beingThe answer: planning. led by Marilyn Warburton, a researchWhile theres still a lot to do, NIFA and geneticist with the USDAs AgriculturalUC-Davis are working hard to team up PHOTO: ANN FILMER/UC DAVIS.Research Service (ARS) in Mississippi.with researchers across the United States Warburton found her passion workingto find solutionsor starting solutionswith green, moldy cornthat is, learningto breeding for food safety.how to breed Aspergillus flavus resistantAfter the conference, a committee corn while maintaining yield and otherdrafted a white paper report about what agronomic traits.From left to right: lettuce experts Ivanthe conference discovered in regard to Aspergillus flavus is a fungus that canSimko (USDA), Richard Michelmore (UCplant breeding for food safety, and called appear on corn. While it is not usuallyDavis) and Gail Taylor (UC Davis).for additional peer-reviewed papers to be particularly harmful to the plant, thesubmitted and assembled into an online, fungus produces a mycotoxin which canopen-access report. be harmful to those who consume it.an environment that the fungus loves, andThis will appear in Frontiers Research At the USDA-ARS, were looking atyet its not growing or spreading. Topic Breeding Crops for Enhanced corn plants that dont allow the fungus toHowever, this resistance does come atFood Safety, and would be edited grow, or if the fungus is present, doesnta price.by Maeli Melotto, Wei Zhang and Max produce this metabolite, Warburton said.Unfortunately, although these cornTeplitski. Currently, there are 33 con-The best part? Theyve beenplants are really super as far as resistancefirmed author submissions, with more on extremely successful at minimizing theto Aspergillus flavus, they arent superthe way. Aspergillus flavus.as far as other things like yield and otherEditors Note: Have any research to Over the past 20 years, weve comeagronomic traits, Warburton said. So now,contribute? Visit https://www.frontiersin.up with a couple of lines that are highlywere trying to find those resistance genesorg/research-topics/10623/breeding-resistant, she said. We can inject themand move them into elite cultivars, whichcrops-for-enhanced-food-safety.SWwith spores of the fungus and put them inhas been slow.SEPTEMBER 2019SEEDWORLD.COM /45'