Research interests include agricultural water quality, microbial risk assessment, and antimicrobial interventions
Foodborne pathogens, spoilage microorganisms, functional microbes, microbial risk factors, process verification, and regulatory compliance
Providing hands-on laboratory experience for high school and college students
Dr. Bhullar’s research focuses on identifying the routes of contamination, conducting the microbial risk assessment, and testing/validating antimicrobial interventions to improve food safety. The lab makes use of some novel non-thermal technologies such as UV light technologies and CO2 laser engraving on fresh produce
Kansas State University Research and Extension provides free water testing for all Kansas fresh produce growers.
The research will focus on studying the impact on the microbial safety of produce with the transition of production systems from open-field to protected cultivation.
Preliminary work on Produce Safety Research will focus on the efficacy of the application of UV-C light and cold plasma in inactivating human pathogens.