WHEAT FLOUR IS AN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT, WHICH DOES NOT UNDERGO A KILL STEP THAT WOULD EFFECTIVELY REDUCE MICROBIAL POPULATIONS DURING THE MILLING PROCESS. WHILE FLOUR IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSUMED AS A RTE FOOD, SOME PRODUCTS SUCH AS RAW COOKIE DOUGH, FROZEN DOUGHS, OR CAKE BATTERS ARE OFTEN TASTED BY CONSUMERS BEFORE BAKING. ADDITIONALLY, FAILURE TO PROPERLY WASH HANDS AND SURFACES AFTER CONTACT WITH RAW DOUGH CAN LEAD TO CROSS-CONTAMINATION OF OTHER FOODS. AN INCREASE IN OUTBREAKS AND RECALLS ASSOCIATED WITH WHEAT FLOUR AND WHEAT FLOUR PRODUCTS, AS WELL AS PRESSURE FROM NEW LEGISLATIVE REGULATIONS HAVE PRESENTED THE MILLING INDUSTRY WITH A NEW CHALLENGE. TRADITIONAL PASTEURIZATION METHODS UTILIZE HIGH TEMPERATURES TO REDUCE MICROBIAL POPULATIONS; HOWEVER, HIGH TEMPERATURE TREATMENT CAN GREATLY REDUCE THE FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF WHEAT FLOUR. DEVELOPMENT OF A PROCESS THAT CAN ACTIVELY REDUCE MICROBIAL POPULATIONS WHILE MAINTAINING WHEAT QUALITY IS OF GREAT INTEREST TO WHEAT PROCESSORS (SEE LETTER OF SUPPORT FROM NORTH DAKOTA WHEAT COMMISSION). VACUUM STEAM PASTEURIZATION (VSP) IS THE APPLICATION OF STEAM TO FOOD PRODUCTS UNDER A VACUUM, RESULTING IN STEAM AT TEMPERATURES BELOW 100&DEG;C. STEAM ALLOWS FOR IMPROVED HEAT TRANSFER, AND SUBSEQUENT MICROBIAL INACTIVATION, COMPARED TO APPLICATION OF DRY HEAT. THE SIMSEK AND BERGHOLZ LABS HAVE FOCUSED ON THE POTENTIAL FOR VACUUM STEAM PASTEURIZATION TO INACTIVATE PATHOGENS ON WHEAT GRAIN.THE DATA COLLECTED WILL PROVIDE NEEDED INFORMATION REGARDING THE SURVIVAL KINETICS AND DURATION OF ENTERIC PATHOGENS ON WHEAT KERNELS, WHETHER PATHOGENS CAN INCREASE IN NUMBERS DURING TEMPERING, AND WHETHER PATHOGENS LOCALIZE TO THE CREASE OF THE KERNEL. THESE DATA WILL BE IMPORTANT FOR DESIGNING EFFECTIVE CONTROL MEASURES FOR FOODBORNE BACTERIAL PATHOGENS ON WHEAT.ALSO, THOUGH IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A TREATMENT TO REDUCE PATHOGEN CONTAMINATION IN WHEAT, THE FLOUR'S FUNCTIONALITY MUST BE MAINTAINED. THUS, IT IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCETO CONDUCT FLOUR AND END-USE QUALITY EVALUATION FOR FLOURS TREATED WITH VSP. THE MILLING COMPANY MUST ENSURE THAT ANY TREATMENT TO THE GRAIN FOR THE PURPOSE OF REDUCING MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION WILL NOT NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE FLOUR. THESE POSSIBLE CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VSP TREATMENT COULD ALSO AFFECT TEXTURE AND FLAVOR OF THE END PRODUCTS. IT WILL BE IMPORTANT TO CONDUCT SENSORY EVALUATION OF PRODUCTS PREPARED FROM VSP TREATED FLOURS TO ENSURE THAT THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO FLAVOR OR TEXTURE DUE TO THE VSP TREATMENT. WHEN CONSIDERING A TREATMENT TO FOOD PRODUCTS, CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS WHEN DETERMINING THAT TREATMENTS VIABILITY AS AN ADDITION TO THE PROCESSING OF THAT FOOD.PILOT-SCALE PROCESSING IS AN IMPORTANT STEP IN THE SCALE-UP PROCESS FROM LAB-SCALE EXPERIMENTS TO COMMERCIAL-SCALE PROCESSING. PILOT-SCALE VACUUM STEAM PASTEURIZATION EQUIPMENT WITH A CAPACITY OF ~250KG IS AVAILABLE FOR EXPERIMENTAL USE FROM NAPASOL. ONCE WE HAVE DETERMINED THE PASTEURIZATION PARAMETERS THAT RESULT IN MAXIMAL PATHOGEN INACTIVATION WHILE MAINTAINING FLOUR FUNCTIONALITY, AND CONFIRMED THE APPROPRIATE SURROGATE STRAIN, THE VACUUM STEAM PASTEURIZATION PROCESS FOR WHEAT GRAIN WILL BE VALIDATED ON THE PILOT-SCALE EQUIPMENT. SURROGATE INACTIVATION WILL BE QUANTIFIED AND MILLING QUALITY ASSESSED, TO DEMONSTRATE EFFECTIVE SCALE-UP OF THIS POTENTIAL CONTROL MEASURE FOR PATHOGENS ON WHEAT.THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AND VALIDATE THE USE OF VACUUM STEAM PASTEURIZATION TO INACTIVATE ENTERIC PATHOGENS ON WHEAT GRAIN.