Specific Objectives of the Project:
This project studies the costs and prevalence of heat related illnesses in
California’s agricultural workforce using clinical hospital admissions data.
Research questions included:
• What are the causal effects of temperature, wages, and commodity prices
on the prevalence of heat-related illnesses among agricultural workers?
• How do hospital-reported heat illness rates among agricultural workers
compare to employer self-reports?
• Are agricultural workers in California experiencing a chronic heat-related
illness, Chronic Kidney Disease, first seen in agricultural workers in
Central America?

Project Report/Summary of Results:
This project came to a series of null findings. We found imprecise estimates of a
null effect.
The better news is that in the course of the project, we compiled data from
California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (Cal-OSHPD),
as well as incident reports from Cal-OSHA and had to reconcile discrepancies
between multiple data sources.
Because of this preliminary work, we were invited to submit a proposal to
participate in the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety’s (WCAHS)
renewal proposal. WCAHS is a National Institute of Occupational Health and
Safety agricultural center. These centers are on 5-year funding cycles and each
renewal proposals are made up of a portfolio of projects. If our project is chosen
to be part of the renewal, and the center is renewed, this would lead to five years
of funding in the 150,000 to 200,000 per year.

Specific Objectives of the Project:
We quantify the role regulation and enforcement play in affecting US food safety
outcomes by analyzing previously unstudied administrative data. Research
questions include:
• How do inspections and enforcement actions influence food safety
outcomes at the inspected or sanctioned facility?
• How do inspections and enforcement actions directed towards one facility
influence food safety outcomes at other facilities?
• What confounding factors (i.e. facility characteristics, economic trends)
impact food safety outcomes and facility responsiveness to regulatory actions?
• What data, metrics, and methods can be used to measure deterrence
outcomes in a food safety context?
• How do food recalls and illness outbreaks interact with the regulatory
process to influence food safety outcomes?
In this study our measure of food safety is the levels of microbial contaminants
(e.g. Salmonella E.coli, etc…) detected by Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS) in the course of standard inspections.

Project Report/Summary of Results:
Funds from this project lead to a unique partnership between the USDA-FSIS,
UC Davis, and the University of Virginia to analyze administrative data related to
food safety. As a direct result of the grant we signed a data-sharing MOU with
USDA-FSIS.
Preliminary results from this project served as the basis for a USDA-AFRI
proposal, which was funded in the 2018 fiscal year, in the amount of $499,968 –
representing a seventeen-fold return on the Giannini Foundation’s investment.