Fresh bovine manure was mechanically incorporated into loamy sand and silty clay loam Wisconsin soils in April 2004. At varying fertilization-to-planting intervals, radish, lettuce, and carrot seeds were planted; crops were harvested 90, 100, 110 or 111, and 120 days after manure application. As an indicator of potential contamination with fecal pathogens, levels of Escherichia coli in the manure-fertilized soil and presence of E. coli on harvested vegetables were monitored. From initial levels of 4.0 to 4.2 log CFU/g, E. coli levels in both manure-fertilized soils decreased by 2.4 to 2.5 log CFU/g during the first 7 weeks. However, E. coli was consistently detected from enriched soil samples through week 17, perhaps as a result of contamination by birds and other wildlife. In the higher clay silty clay loam soil, the fertilization-to-planting interval affected the prevalence of E. coli on lettuce but not on radishes and carrots. Root crop contamination was consistent across different fertilization-to-harvest intervals in silty clay loam, including the National Organic Program minimum fertilization-to-harvest interval of 120 days. However, lettuce contamination in silty clay loam was significantly (P < 0.10) affected by fertilization-to-harvest interval. Increasing the fertilization-to-planting interval in the lower clay loamy sand soil decreased the prevalence of E. coli on root crops. The fertilization-to-harvest interval had no clear effect on vegetable contamination in loamy sand. Overall, these results do not provide grounds for reducing the National Organic Program minimum fertilization-to-harvest interval from the current 120-day standard.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has established standards for the composition and shelf stability of various readyto-eat meat products. These standards may include product pH, moisture:protein ratio, and water activity (a w ) values. It is unclear how closely these standards are based on the potential for pathogen growth or toxin production. Because the vacuum packaging used on most ready-to-eat meat products inhibits mold, Staphylococcus aureus is the pathogen most likely to grow on products with reduced a w and increased percentage of water-phase salt. In this study, 34 samples of various ready-to-eat meat products were inoculated with a three-strain mixture of S. aureus, vacuum packaged, and stored at 21ЊC for 4 weeks. S. aureus numbers decreased by 1.1 to 5.6 log CFU on fermented products (pH Յ 5.1) with a wide range of salt concentrations and moisture content. Similarly, S. aureus numbers decreased by 3.2 to 4.5 log CFU on dried nonacidified jerky (a w Յ 0.82; moisture:protein ratio of Յ0.8). Products that were not fermented or dried clearly supported S. aureus growth and cannot be considered shelf stable. The product pH and moisture:protein ratio were the two compositional factors most highly correlated (R 2 ϭ 0.84) with S. aureus survival and growth for the types of products tested, but pH and a w or pH and percentage of water-phase salt also may provide useful predictive guidance (R 2 ϭ 0.81 and 0.77, respectively).Several federal standards exist for the composition of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products. The standards are used to define both product characteristics and shelf stability. The compositional factors commonly used by regulators in establishing compositional and shelf-stability standards are moisture:protein ratio (MPR), water activity (a w ), and pH. For example, nonrefrigerated semidry shelf-stable sausage must (i) have an MPR of Յ3.1 and a pH value of Յ5.0, (ii) have an MPR of Յ1.9 at any pH, or (iii) have a pH of Յ4.5 (or 4.6 with an a w of Յ0.91) and an internal brine concentration of Ն5% and must be intact (or vacuum packaged if sliced), cured, and smoked (19). With experience, processors can establish the relationship between MPR and product ''shrink'' or yield, which is relatively easy to determine. Similarly, a pH meter is relatively affordable for processors and can easily be used to determine product pH. Small-scale processors may be less likely to measure a w , however, because of the relatively high price of an a w meter. Food microbiologists, when evaluating the potential for pathogenic bacterial growth on meat products, commonly consider pH and either a w or percentage of water-phase salt (%WPS). Small-scale processors could build up a database relating product formulation and yield to %WPS, but this approach would require expenditures for analyses of water and salt percentages by a commercial laboratory. Because

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations require processors of apple cider sold wholesale to use processing steps that ensure a 5-log reduction in numbers of the pertinent pathogen, generally considered to be Escherichia coli O157:H7. Current widely used validated pathogen-reduction steps are thermal pasteurization and UV light treatment. These techniques may be unaffordable or undesirable for some processors. This study investigated the cran-cider process, which is the addition of cranberry juice at a 15% (vol/vol) level, followed by warm hold (45 degrees C for 2 h) and freeze-thaw steps (-20 degrees C for 24 h, 5 degrees C for 24 h). When enumeration procedures did not include injury repair, the cran-cider process achieved a > or = 5-log reduction in numbers of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella serovars, and Listeria monocytogenes. However, an injury-repair step was included in the pathogen enumeration procedure in confirmatory trials, and the resulting E. coli O157:H7 reductions of 3.5 to 4.2 log did not meet the FDA requirement. Consumer evaluation of apple cider subjected to the cran-cider process was favorable with a mean (n = 197) score of 5.8 on a seven-point hedonic scale (where 6 equals "like moderately") and 89% of panelists giving the product a positive score of 5, 6, or 7. The cran-cider process provides a novel way to improve microbial safety of unpasteurized apple cider, but it does not meet FDA-mandated pathogen reductions for wholesalers. However, cider makers selling apple cider only at retail could use the process to improve the safety of their product, provided containers were labeled with the FDA-mandated consumer warning.