ITHACA – The Cornell University-led project will use computer modeling and outreach to find optimal strategies to minimize COVID-19 cases and transmission among workers in food processing facilities, while maintaining the best possible production.
The project comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic threatens the country’s food supply, in part because food industry workers fall ill, which reduces the workforce and could lead to temporary closure of facilities.
Cornell researchers plan to collaborate with a dozen meat, dairy and production industry partners to explore potential solutions in real-world settings.
“This is a problem that requires a quick solution, we need to solve it now,” said project principal investigator Renata Ivanek, professor in the Department of Population and Diagnostic Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, said in a news release.
According to Cornell, industry partners include Ohio-based Great Lakes Cheese, which has a factory in Adams; the Misionero Vegetables processor, Del Monte Foods, Seneca Foods Corporation and Taylor Farms and the Tyson Foods poultry, beef and pork processor.
“Part of this project is investigating how segments of the food production industry differ and how to develop control strategies that suit specific industry segments,” Ivanek said.
After the model is developed and validated, it will be scaled up and applied in several specialized facilities to further validate it in real-world settings.
Despite hopes that the pandemic will be overcome in the next year, Ivanek said the project will address current issues while also providing insights for future disease outbreaks.
Cornell noted that food production is an important industry. Keeping workers safe is a priority and a challenge as they often need to work in close proximity to one another, increasing the risk of contracting COVID-19.
Many companies have tried to overcome the risk by closing part of their production lines and adding Plexiglass splitters but this reduces production capacity. Adding to the complexity, Cornell says, is that all of the perks are unique.
The outreach will include courses on COVID-19, its biology and how to control it. The Institute for Food Safety at Cornell University has initiated some of this work, including information-sharing work hours that food processing facility managers can participate in to engage with COVID-19 experts on topics such as safety training for employees and use checklists to assess facility safety plans.
The project was made possible with a two-year, $ 1 million rapid response grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“Part of this project is investigating how segments of the food production industry differ and how to develop control strategies that suit specific industry segments,” Ivanek said.
In March, the Cornell Institute for Food Safety has created a comprehensive website for commercial processors: “Food Industry Resources for Coronavirus”. Information on the site ranges from general industry guides to training videos for food processing employees.