Enhancing Food Safety, Product Quality, and Value-Added in Food Supply Chains Using Whole-Chain Traceability

A robust whole chain traceability system can limit consumers’ exposure to potentially hazardous foods, improve supply chain management, and add value to consumer products. However, fragmented supply chains present special challenges. In the beef industry, for example, producers have resisted participation in whole chain traceability because of high cost relative to value and concerns about disclosing proprietary information, among others. A multi-disciplinary team from universities, private firms, and a foundation has developed and tested a pilot proprietary centralized data whole chain traceability system that addresses many of these obstacles. This system would facilitate a precision agriculture approach to beef production and marketing. While the remaining challenges are serious, the benefits to society, consumers, and businesses from widespread adoption of whole-chain traceability systems are potentially large

Baseline Characteristics for HIV Controllers and Non-controllers for Time to AIDS or Death Analysis.

<p>VL, viral load; HBV, hepatitis B virus; AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy.</p><p>Values are number (%) or median (Interquartile Range).</p><p>Positive HBV vaccine seroresponse defined as antibody to HBV surface antigen (anti-HBs) ≥10 IU/L following last HBV vaccination. For those vaccinated before HIV, the first available anti-HBs determination after HIV infection was used for categorization.</p

Kaplan-Meier plots demonstrating the time to AIDS or death for HIV controllers (HIC) compared to non-controllers by hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine antibody response status (A and B) and outcomes for non-controllers alone (C).

<p>Among HBV vaccine responders (A) and non-responders (B), the time to AIDS or death was significantly longer for HIC compared to non-controllers (Log Rank P<0.001 for both). (C). Examination of non-controllers alone by HBV response status showed a longer time to AIDS or death for vaccine responders compared to non-responders (P<0.001). Anti-HBs, antibody to HBV surface antigen.</p

Cox proportional hazard model for factors associated with risk of AIDS or death event.

<p>HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; HBV, hepatitis B virus; AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.</p><p>Model stratified by era of HIV diagnosis (before or after 1996).</p

Baseline Characteristics of HIV Controllers and Non-controllers With or Without Viral Load-Suppressive HAART for HBV Vaccine Seroresponse.

<p>HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy; HBV, hepatitis B virus.</p>a<p>P-value, HIV controllers vs. HAART-naïve non-controllers.</p>b<p>P-value HIV controllers vs. non-controllers on HAART.</p><p>AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; VL, viral load; HCV, hepatitis C virus; anti-HBs, antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen.</p><p>Data are number (%) or median (Interquartile Range).</p><p>Positive HBV vaccine seroresponse defined as anti-HBs ≥10 IU/L measured ≥1 month after last HBV vaccination.</p

Factors Associated with Positive HBV Vaccine Seroresponse for HIV Controllers Compared to Non-controllers With or Without Viral Load-Suppressive HAART.

<p>HBV, hepatitis B virus; HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.</p><p>Data are number (%) or median (Interquartile Range).</p><p>Positive HBV vaccine seroresponse defined as antibody to HBV surface antigen ≥10 IU/L measured ≥1 month after last HBV vaccination.</p