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The Cornell University Food Safety laboratory partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County and 4-H Camp Bristol Hills to provide a week long food science and food safety program as part of the 4-H Camp Bristol Hills during summer 2012.  Educational activities focused on the nature of science, dairy product development, and a simulated outbreak investigation.  4-H Food Science Camp provided over 16 hours of hands-on educational activities in the areas of chemistry, biology, microbiology, and geographic information systems and landscape ecology.  A university professor and graduate student engaged campers in experiments and case studies where they discovered, modeled, and compared the chemical interactions between ingredients in ice cream, butter and cheese; reconstructed the structure of DNA; practiced the steps of an outbreak investigation during a mock "food-borne disease outbreak;" and developed solutions to minimize the risk of future outbreaks.

Twelve campers between the ages of 9-15 participated in the 4-H Food Science Camp.  Program evaluations identified:

• 100% of campers identified they had an excellent experience in the 4-H Food Science Camp
• 83% identified they learned concepts about food science they did not know before
• 75% of campers felt the camp increased their enthusiasm for the science of food safety
• 92% of campers indicated they were interested in learning more about food science
• 75% of campers felt that the instructional approach – demonstrations, hands-on learning, problem solving, all in a camp setting – improved their learning.
•  92% of campers believed they learned more at camp than they would in a classroom.

One camper stated the activity she liked best was "the outbreak investigation since it allowed us to act like genuine food scientists in conducting an experiment."   

Another camper felt the most important thing she learned was "how to properly diagnose a problem in the field of science."

Cornell University hosted the Food Safety 4H Career Explorations workshop for high school students in June 2012.

Andrea Moreno Switt, Food Science graduate student at Cornell University, participated in one activity of the AVID program at Ithaca High School on February 17th.  AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges. In this activity I talked with 14 students from 11am-1pm about food safety and my research with Salmonella. Students rotated in stations of grad students from different fields.

Cornell Food Science at STANYS Workshop: Cornell Food Science presented and hosted two hands-on sessions during the Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference held in Rochester, NY, on November 5-8, 2011. This program was taught by food safety graduate students at Cornell and targeted middle and high school students. Materials can be requested from Rachel Pfuntner at rcp26@cornell.edu.

Cornell University graduate students Rachel Pfuntner and Travis Chapin represented the Department of Food Science at the Vestal High School Agricultural Career Fair on October 27th, 2011.  About 300 students came by to learn about career and educational opportunities in the field of Food Science/Food Safety.

FIRST LEGO League Food Safety Challenge:  *On October 25th a team of four 9 and 10 year olds from New Jersey who are participating in the FIRST LEGO League Food Factor Challenge visited the Food Science department to learn about food safety in fluid milk processing systems. Nicole Martin, Research Support Specialist in the *Milk Quality Improvement Program, Daina Ringus, graduate student in the Food Safety Laboratory, and Jason Huck, manager of Cornell Dairy, helped the team think through potential food safety issues that may be encountered in fluid milk processing. The team was also given a tour of the Cornell Dairy processing facility for a hands on look at how milk is processed.

Additionally, six graduate students and two research support specialists from the Food Safety Laboratory and Milk Quality Improvement Program have served as mentors for eight other FIRST LEGO League teams.  The teams were comprised of junior high school students from the East coast and midwest.  Research areas that the teams focused on included Listeria monocytogenes contamination of dairy products, ready-to-eat meats, and produce as well as Salmonella contamination of eggs.  Mentors provided support that ranged from communicating scientific findings to arranging tours of commercial cheese plants.  Several of the teams have recently reported that they have advanced through the first stages of the contest!

Cornell Food Science at the New York State (NYS) Fair:  Graduate students and staff from Cornell University's Department of Food Science hosted a booth in the 4-H Youth Building at the NYS Fair Saturday, September 3, 2011 from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.  Cornell's University's Food Science booth engaged over 600 people of all in interactive educational activities focusing on food safety. 

Have you ever gotten sick from the food you ate?  If so, you're hardly alone: the CDC estimates that foodborne illness strikes about 50 million Americans each year.  Have you heard about any food-related outbreaks or food recalls recently?  Whether it's in spinach, ground beef, pine nuts, or even pet food, there always seems to be a food source that is contaminated with Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, or another potentially deadly type of bacteria.  How are these outbreaks detected?  How are they traced to the original source?  How are they dealt with?  These are the questions explored at a two and a half day Food Safety workshop that's part of the 4H Career Explorations conference at Cornell June 28-30.  12 students in grades 9-12 from across New York State participated in food safety activities led by food safety graduate students. Students were presented with an outbreak scenario and spent the remainder of the time working in small groups and with graduate students to use epidemiological and molecular techniques to determine the most likely source of the outbreak as well as to suggest control and preventative measures.  Materials are posted here and can be requested from Travis Chapin at tkc24@cornell.edu. The conference was sponsored by the New York State Cooperative Extension Service at Cornell University 4-H program.