Project details
Status: Completed
Apple packhouses do more than pack apples – they sanitise, sort and discard. And since apples are for eating, managing potential pathogens and ensuring overall food safety are very important.
PhD candidate Elizabeth Frankish is in the throes of surveying apple packhouses in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia,
collecting data from the full range of packhouse systems nationwide.
Elizabeth is researching the pathogen predictors of apple packhouses. She's figuring out if the incidence of pathogen contamination is related to fruit maturity or quality, or hygiene conditions.
Australian apple packhouses have been keen to get involved in the study and support Elizabeth's development of a risk assessment software model especially for Australian apple packhouses.
Acknowledgements:
Elizabeth Frankish's PhD is jointly supervised and funded by the University of Sydney’s ARC Training Centre for Food Safety in the Fresh Produce Industry and our ARC Training Centre for Innovative Horticultural Products.