# Milk Surveillance Project

> **NIH FDA U19** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $200,246

## Abstract

Radiochemistry: Analytical Track Food Defense 2020 
Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene 
FDA Laboratory Flexible Funding Model 
PAR-20-105 Project of Radiological Discipline 
Abstract/Summary 
Establishing a radiological baseline for the dairy products of Wisconsin 
The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) is Wisconsin’s public and environmental 
health laboratory. As part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the WSLH is committed to 
exploring new ideas and developing new programs to benefit the state and nation. The 
WSLH’s Radiochemistry unit has been a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Food 
Emergency Response Network (FERN) for over twelve years. This agreement has enabled the 
WSLH radiochemistry department to maintain and enhance its testing capability and capacity 
for rapid and accurate response in the event of radiological food emergencies. The department 
has experience in gamma and alpha spectrometry, gas proportional counting, and liquid 
scintillation counting. The Radiochemistry unit uses only approved Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) and FDA FERN Cooperative Agreement Program methodologies. The unit is 
certified and inspected by the EPA, a complete quality assurance and quality control program is 
maintained. This laboratory is not a regulatory laboratory for human or animal food, nor does it 
perform animal diagnostic laboratory services. 
According to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Wisconsin 
produced over 30 billion pounds of milk last year and is the country’s largest producer of dairy 
products. With the cessation of the EPA RadNet milk sampling program in November 2014, 
WSLH’s Radiochemistry unit is seeking to fill this deficit in the nation’s food monitoring by 
testing Wisconsin’s raw milk to further the FDA’s efforts to prevent foodborne exposures to 
contaminants from a radiological event. The program will focus on analysis of raw 
unpasteurized milk samples from the state’s dairy plants for gamma emitting isotopes, 
including 137Cs and 131I. All results obtained for this project would be reported to the nationally 
integrated science system FERN. Future goals include increasing the number of dairy plants 
beyond the initial scope of this project and expanding to incorporate alpha and beta emitters, 
such as americium, plutonium, and 90Sr.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10173452
- **Project number:** 1U19FD007067-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** James J Schauer
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $200,246
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10173452

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10173452, Milk Surveillance Project (1U19FD007067-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10173452. Licensed CC0.

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