REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS - PRE-HARVEST BEEF SAFETY RESEARCH

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, is soliciting research proposals in Pre-Harvest Beef Safety Research covering these applied and basic science topics for FY 2025: 

Primary considerations

Original scientific research:   

• Develop innovative pre-harvest management strategies to mitigate Salmonella (level, serovars, prevalence) in reference to the new Salmonella targets preliminarily established by FSIS (LOD 10). 

Research ideas should be novel, applicable to the industry, and have a high potential impact. The primary objective of all projects must be related to improving beef safety (not beef production or cattle health) and provide key learnings to industry challenges. Collaboration is strongly encouraged where relevant. Budgets for research trials will be evaluated based on the scope and methodology of the submitted proposal. Funding priority will be focused on an assessment of information received from industry partners. 

• Proposal Submission Date: June 30, 2024
• Funding Notifications: Late Fall
• Budget limit:  $200,000
• Project Start Date: As early as January 2025
• Project Completion Date: no later than May 2026
• RFP question addressed should be noted in the objectives session of the submission. 
  

ExPLORATORY Research Assessment: SHORT TERM, PILOT PROJECTS, PROOF OF CONCEPT, OR COMPILATIONS

important dates for exploratory research: 

• Proposal Submission Date: June 30, 2024 
• Funding Notifications: Early Fall 
• Budget Limit:  $50,000 
• Project Duration: 6 months or less
• RFP question addressed should be noted in the objectives session of the submission. 
• Additional information: Successful proposals from this category may be asked to present at the Beef Industry Safety Summit. 

Existing Research Assessment: Gap analysis, meta-analyses, existing data analysis/modeling encouraged. 

• Assess threats to beef safety originating in the pre-harvest environment including chemical, physical and biological (beyond Salmonella and STEC) hazards. 
• Explore methods to determine the relatedness of micro-organisms (excluding whole genome). 
• Given the known success of the multi-hurdle post-harvest intervention approach to reduce pathogens, assess what level of pathogen reduction is needed in pre-harvest as part of the continuum to have an overall improvement in final product safety. 
• Describe the potential connection between pre-harvest management decisions associated with cattle cycles and inventories on end product beef safety. 
• Describe the competitive and/or synergistic relationships between pathogens and commensal bacteria and how these relationships affect virulence and survival. 
• Assess the impact of using antibiotics or antibiotic alternatives on cattle’s gut microbiome in relation to impact on pathogens of public health interest. 
  

IMPORTANT DATES FOR EXISTING RESEARCH ASSESSMENT:

• Proposal submission date: June 30, 2024
• Funding notifications: Late Fall
• Budget limit: $10,000
• RFP questions addressed should be noted in the objectives session of the submission. 
• Project timeline should be 12 months or less. 

INFORMATION SESSION

• Applicant Information 

• Organization Information
• Researcher Information 
• Contracts/Grant Administrator Information
  
• Application Summary 
• Project Title
• Lay Title
• Project Estimates
  
• Estimated Total Cost of Research
• Proposed Start and End Date
• Project Details
• Project Background & Hypothesis (maximum of 650 words)
• Objectives 
  
• RFP question addressed should be noted in the objectives session of the submission. 
• Proposed Methodology and Experiment Design
• Proposed Practical Application to the Industry

• Detailed Budget Table 
• Other Sources of Support/Co-funding (optional) 
• Supporting Documents/CV (optional)

PUBLICATION COSTS    

Publication of all research is expected regardless of the outcome, however financial support for manuscript publication is considered separate from research contracts.  Once your project is completed and final report is submitted, please reach out to NCBA staff to receive more information on the new publishing guidance. 

ADDITIONAL DETAIL 

PIs should review completed Beef Safety projects to avoid submitting an idea that already has been covered. Completed project summaries are available HERE.

We understand that PIs do not know the nature of ongoing research projects. However, a list of ongoing projects cannot be made available due to contracting sensitivities. Please understand this limitation and use your best judgment to submit proposals that are both novel and relevant. If you have questions please feel free to reach out.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES 

Project deliverables will include, at minimum, a final technical report with a full listing of research results and implications, and an abbreviated executive summary highlighting key points from the full technical report. Final technical reports must follow a standard outline and be thorough and interpretive in nature. 

Deliverables also will include a final statement outlining all project expenditures from the institution’s business office. 

Funds cannot be spent beyond the project end date established in the project contract. Deliverables will be due on or before the project end date established in the contract. 

REVIEW CRITERIA 

Proposals will be reviewed by a panel of independent industry experts and applicants will be notified of funding decisions listed above. Proposals will be evaluated for: clearly defined hypothesis and objectives, experimental design/methods and convincing evidence that the proposed research will change the concepts, methods, or technologies that drive this field.

DISCLAIMER 

We are aware that academic institutions have financial obligations for administering the research grants awarded to their faculty members. However, overhead costs, principal investigator salaries, tuition and equipment purchases will not be considered as part of the funds made available for this research. Click HERE to view the full statement.

Please share this RFP with interested colleagues.

Visit www.beefresearch.org for additional information on the checkoff-funded Beef safety Research program.