The completion of development of the Phase I project on development of an immunoassay for rodent excreta and extension of the discoveries made to a comparable assay for bird excreta will lead to a commercial enterprise manufacturing and marketing immunoassay kits that will detect the presence of rodents, birds and insects. While a commercial immunoassay for insects is already available, immunoassay technology will not be adopted until comparable assays are also available for rodent and bird matter because currently used methods will detect all three. Immunoassay are rapid, easy to use, very precise and can measure hidden contamination. Their use in food will allow for a much better predictor for the presence of potential pathogens carried by the crop pests. In addition, the use of immunoassay at food storage sites will allow the site operator to monitor the facilities, to predict when infestation begins, and to take remedial action before losses mount. Food storage losses are said to be in the low billions of dollars each year.Applications:Completion of development of immunoassay technology will allow food technologists for the first time to measure with precision the presence of potential health hazards in our food resulting from contamination by the major food storage pests, i.E., Rodents, insects and birds. Current widely used tests are the crack and float and the insect fragment tests. These tests cannot measure any of the crop pests with precision, are slow, and use volumes of strong acids and hydrocarbons which must be disposed of. The currently used tests can only measure rodent hair, feather barbules or insect body parts; neither of the tests can directly measure the real hazard, excreta.
