FDA-09-223-SOL-00042

The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition seeks a contractor to conduct a comprehensive microbial analysis of foods, with a primary focus on produce commodities and ready-to-eat foods. The objective is to establish baseline data on the presence, frequency, and levels of specific bacterial pathogens, including Salmonella, Shigella, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in produce, and Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat products. This effort includes the creation of a database tracking pathogen detection relative to growing seasons and geographical locations to inform future Produce Safety Regulatory Options. The project is structured as an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract consisting of a one-year base period and four option years. The resulting data is intended to support science-based regulatory decisions that are consistent across the United States and compliant with WTO SPS obligations. This initiative addresses public concern regarding produce contamination and aims to better identify environmental and food-related microbiological risks.