# Chemistry Discipline, Food Defense Analytical Track

> **NIH FDA U19** · OHIO STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE · 2020 · $500,950

## Abstract

Increasing the Capability and Capacity of 
Microbiological and Chemical Testing to Support an 
Integrated Food Defense and Food Safety System 
Chemistry Discipline, Food Defense Analytical Track 
Project Summary / Abstract 
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) Consumer Protection Laboratory (CPL) proposes to 
strengthen federal efforts to protect the national food supply and enhance the state’s regulatory 
effectiveness and speed in food defense. ODA-CPL seeks to address four different problems 
over the entire five-year project period. First, ODA-CPL will secure full-service contracts to 
minimize instrument downtime and bypass the long process of procuring a purchase order 
through the state. Second, the laboratory will purchase and install new instruments designed to 
automate laborious parts of sample methods. As more automation becomes the norm, the 
laboratory is expected to improve efficiency of personnel being used as well as speed up 
turnaround time of analysis. Third, ODA-CPL proposes to hire another laboratory technician to 
increase redundancy in support staff as well as reduce the amount of time scientists are 
spending on support-level work. This would allow more freedom for scientists to be trained in 
additional FERN methods and thus provide either redundancy in existing methodology or 
expansion of capability in the laboratory. Lastly, ODA-CPL intends to regularly participate in 
FDA exercises and activities, including any security events, proficiency tests, surveillance 
activities and any other such exercise as requested by the US FDA. During the first project 
period, ODA-CPL is already preparing for an activation for the 2021 Presidential Inaugural 
Ceremonies scheduled in January 2021. The laboratory has agreed to perform any testing on 
“for cause” samples collected during this event. ODA-CPL will also participate in any LFFM 
face-to-face meetings, agreeing to send the Chemistry Project PI at minimum to represent the 
chemistry discipline. ODA-CPL is already operationally ready to perform GC-MS, LC-MS, ICP- 
MS, other methods at a moment’s notice to support the FERN Network in handling any food- 
related emergency where chemical analysis is required; these actions described above will 
further supplement that readiness by reducing turnaround time, minimizing instrument 
downtime, and providing redundancy for personnel in case of sudden absence or illness.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10173195
- **Project number:** 1U19FD007087-01
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason Siu Kong
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $500,950
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10173195

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10173195, Chemistry Discipline, Food Defense Analytical Track (1U19FD007087-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10173195. Licensed CC0.

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