MSU scientist making food safer worldwide through research, policy
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EmailFelicia Wu is working to better understand how to mitigate harmful aflatoxins and other food safety challenges globally.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — For Felicia Wu, the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Food Safety, Toxicology and Risk Assessment at Michigan State University, food safety is paramount. She has dedicated her career to better understanding the risks of food contamination and how to mitigate them, working at the intersection of agriculture, food safety, nutrition and public health.
A sought-after authority on these topics, Wu serves on numerous committees and boards globally and locally. She is a member of the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives, and the WHO Food-Based Dietary Guidelines Committee. She also served as president of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) and is an elected fellow of SRA.
Most recently, Wu was selected to co-chair the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Engineering Biology.
She was also one of five citizens appointed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to be a Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural Development for the state.
These positions allow Wu, a University Distinguished Professor in the MSU departments of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics (AFRE), to influence public policy in an area of growing concern. Her world-renowned research portfolio, which spans more than 25 years, is the foundation of her expertise and recommendations.
“Food safety, nutrition and food security affect everyone,” Wu said. “Many of the research projects I’ve been a part of recognize the dual role of farmers’ and consumers’ behaviors, along with factors they cannot control directly, including climate. The last may pose risks to food safety, food security and nutrition as many parts of the world are projected to get warmer, including the United States.”
Combating global food contaminants
For years, Wu’s primary focus has been on aflatoxins and other mycotoxins, crop contaminants caused by mold and fungi typically found in warm, humid regions. Aflatoxins are known carcinogens linked to increased risk of liver cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
In addition to the human health implications, these toxins can pose significant economic problems for growers around the world. Although much of her work has been based in developing countries, changing climate patterns have brought these efforts to the U.S.
Using modeling to account for the potential spread of aflatoxin across the U.S., a paper published in Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A by Wu and colleagues from MSU and Iowa State University suggested that future economic losses could range from $52.1 million to $1.68 billion annually depending on weather patterns.
In a second paper published in Environmental Research Letters, Wu and her team showed that climate variability and increasing temperatures will indeed result in higher aflatoxin levels in U.S. corn. Using a model that incorporates the historical relationship between temperature, precipitation, irrigation and aflatoxin risk, results showed that more than 89.5% of counties across 15 corn-growing states will experience greater aflatoxin contamination from 2031 to 2040 compared to 2011 to 2020.
“As the U.S. is by far the world's largest corn-producing country, understanding aflatoxin risk in the future is meaningful for global food security,” Wu said. “Because farmers may need to adjust planting seasons to adapt to this climate variability, the vulnerability to toxin development will also change. This was factored into the modeling, and it shows that we need to be prepared moving forward.”
In an effort to address this emerging challenge, Wu and David Hennessy, a former MSU AFRE professor who moved to Iowa State University, received a $478,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) in 2020. The team examined whether Bt corn, a genetically modified variety commonly grown in the U.S. and worldwide that is known for its effectiveness against pests, was able to reduce aflatoxin development.
To understand the effects of Bt corn on aflatoxin, researchers reviewed aflatoxin-related insurance claims from 2001 to 2016. A substantial inverse correlation was found between Bt corn planting and insurance claims when controlling for temperature and drought. Researchers estimated that economic benefits from Bt corn planting and aflatoxin reduction were, on average, roughly $120 million to $167 million annually across 16 states. The results were published in Scientific Reports.
Additionally, Wu’s team recently had a paper accepted in Science that details how to improve the effectiveness of genetically modified corn in the U.S. Midwest.
“This research shows that Bt corn can be an important strategy in reducing aflatoxin risk in one of the major global food crops,” Wu said. “It’s important that this addresses both the human health and farming economics aspects. There are certainly regulatory hurdles with any transgenic crop such as Bt corn, but we’re hoping this can be a model for other countries where corn is a staple food and aflatoxin is an even bigger problem currently.”
Improving low-moisture food safety
Some of Wu’s ongoing research has delved into the area of low-moisture food safety, which involves protecting foods such as cereals, flour, nuts and dried fruits from contamination.
Because these foods are used as ingredients in a multitude of products, a recall can cause a devastating chain-reaction economic effect on businesses, not to mention the worries around human health.
Alongside project lead Bradley Marks, professor and chair in the MSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Wu is partnering on a $9.8 million grant from USDA NIFA to explore a holistic approach to reducing pathogens in low-moisture foods.
The grant led to the creation of the Center for Low-Moisture Food Safety at MSU aimed at reducing foodborne illnesses such as E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella.
The multidisciplinary team includes consumer educators, economists, engineers, microbiologists and risk assessment specialists from MSU, Purdue University, Ohio State University, Washington State University, the University of Arkansas, the University of California-Davis, the Illinois Institute of Technology and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
A crucial aspect of the project is geared toward creating resources to educate everyone, from harvester to consumer, about their roles in ensuring food safety. A 12-person stakeholder advisory board helps to implement what researchers refer to as a “food safety-conscious culture” and consists of representatives from commodity organizations, equipment companies, farmer-owned cooperatives, processors and retailers.
One of these partners is Kent Juliot, vice president of research, quality and technical services for Ardent Mills, a premier flour milling and ingredient company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Juliot believes low-moisture food safety research is needed to protect consumers and ensure companies can continue to supply quality products.
"The low-moisture ingredient and food industry requires more sophisticated tools and a deeper understanding to continually enhance the quality and safety of our products," Juliot said. "Dr. Wu’s leadership and other academic professionals at The Center for Low-Moisture Food Safety are uniquely responsive to industry needs, sharing their innovations and findings with transparency. This partnership is proving to be invaluable to all involved, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed the standards necessary to safeguard consumers and maintain the integrity of our industry."
On the research side, in a study published in Risk Analysis, Wu and her team, including doctoral student Rubait Rahman in MSU AFRE, describe the U.S. economic burden caused by foodborne pathogens in flour. Scientists estimated the economic toll from 2001 to 2021 using a model that combines disease outbreak data with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention multipliers and data accounting for the costs of medical care, loss of productivity, loss of life and lower quality of life.
While there were only 752 reported illnesses related to flour during this period, the models suggest that when accounting for underreporting and underdiagnosis, annual cases could actually exceed 19,400. This could result in economic losses ranging from $108 million to $258 million.
Additional studies have dealt with consumer behavior, improving process validations and determining the remaining low-moisture food safety research and outreach needs across the U.S. The needs-based study reviewed data collected from two surveys of food safety experts that will help guide future safety-related research.
The center’s scientists have also begun assessing industry responses to food safety challenges, looking to create systems that are resilient to these events.
“We’re looking at the economics of outbreaks in dry foods, technologies that can control pathogens without disturbing food quality, education and outreach, and the risks and benefits of these technologies,” Wu said. “Ultimately, we aim to create a decision-support tool for industries to help them understand the benefits of adopting particular technologies, along with costs and expected savings.”
Michigan State University AgBioResearch scientists discover dynamic solutions for food systems and the environment. More than 300 MSU faculty conduct leading-edge research on a variety of topics, from health and climate to agriculture and natural resources. Originally formed in 1888 as the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU AgBioResearch oversees numerous on-campus research facilities, as well as 15 outlying centers throughout Michigan. To learn more, visit agbioresearch.msu.edu.
