title: Microbiological Safety of Animal Wastes Processed by Physical Heat Treatment: An Alternative To Eliminate Human Pathogens in Biological Soil Amendments as Recommended by the Food Safety Modernization Act.
abstract: Animal wastes have high nutritional value as biological soil amendments of animal origin for plant cultivation in sustainable agriculture; however, they can be sources of some human pathogens. Although composting is an effective way to reduce pathogen levels in animal wastes, pathogens may still survive under certain conditions and persist in the composted products, which potentially could lead to fresh produce contamination. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act, alternative treatments are recommended for reducing or eliminating human pathogens in raw animal manure. Physical heat treatments can be considered an effective method to inactivate pathogens in animal wastes. However, microbial inactivation in animal wastes can be affected by many factors, such as composition of animal wastes, type and physiological stage of the tested microorganism, and heat source. Following some current processing guidelines for physical heat treatments may not be adequate for completely eliminating pathogens from animal wastes. Therefore, this article primarily reviews the microbiological safety and economic value of physically heat-treated animal wastes as biological soil amendments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, USA.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, USA.
authors.forename: Xiuping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059022:Food Safety; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008372:Manure / Q000382:microbiology; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil
keywords: Animal wastes; Biological soil amendment; Food Safety Modernization Act; Human pathogen; Physical heat treatment