Page History

The Cornell University Food Safety Lab provided a tour of the dairy processing facility to about 25 high school FFA members participating in a leadership workshop on campus on November 16th. Students were provided with the opportunity to oversee the new facility and to inquire about job opportunities in the dairy and food industry.

Cornell University presented, "Food Safety Education:  The value of K-12 education and outreach to advancing the development of future food safety leaders," at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection.  The meeting was held in Charlotte, North Carolina from July 18-31, 2013.  Please see the abstract below:

Abstract: Foodborne illnesses continue to pose a substantial public health burden in the United States and around the world.  One persistent contributing problem is a relatively poor level of food safety "knowledge" “knowledge” in the population at-large.  To address this, there is a clear need to expand existing food safety education and awareness programs, and to establish new ones.  However, this cannot be done without a critical mass of food safety professionals.  Unfortunately, career and educational opportunities in food safety are largely unrecognized by K-12 students, meaning that many students come to food safety relatively late in their academic training.  The purpose of this symposium is to highlight innovative approaches to engaging future food safety professionals by targeting K-12 populations.  The symposium will kick off with four presentations on different strategies used recently to reach this important pool of future food safety professionals followed by a presentation describing USDA-NIFA priorities for food safety outreach and conclude with a roundtable discussion.  Attendees will come away with an understanding of why it is important to include food safety education in K-12 curricula and how engaging K-12 students can help grow the population of food safety professionals around the world.  

Cornell University hosted the 4-H Career Explorations Food Science: DNA Fingerprinting again this past summer.  This 2.5 day workshop for high school students was held June 25-27, 2013 on the Cornell Campus.

Cornell Food Science at the Beverly J. Martin Elementary School Science Fair:  Graduate students and staff from Cornell University's Department of Food Science hosted a booth for the science fair at an Ithaca, NY elementary school on February 1st, 2013.  Cornell University's Food Science booth engaged approximately 300 students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade in interactive educational activities focusing on food safety and food science.
The Cornell University Food Safety Laboratory partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County and 4-H Camp Bristol Hills to provide week long food science and food safety program as part of the 4-H Camp Bristol Hills during summer 2013.  Educational activities focused on the nature of science, dairy product development, and a simulated outbreak investigation.  The 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“food-borne disease outbreak;" ” and developed solutions to minimize the risk of future outbreaks.

NC State partnered with North Carolina Central University'sUniversity’s Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) facility in Durham, NC, to present a norovirus learning module to 25 high school students on July 24, 2013.  The BRITE Futures program collaborates with educational leaders from universities and K-12 teachers to foster North Carolina's Carolina’s understanding of scientific concepts and skills. A second workshop was held on August 8, 2013, for 21 middle school and high school teachers.

Alabama A&M University hosted hands-on workshops for 93 Students (elementary, middle and high school) the afternoon of June 20th, 2013.  These workshops focused on Food Science and the importance of food safety.

Alabama A&M University hosted a 4-week (June 1-July 3rd) food science summer program during 2013 for 30 high school students (9-12 grades). The program emphasized food microbiology and safety. Students were given hands-on experience in conducting proper serial dilutions, plating techniques, and enumeration of microorganisms in foods. Students (in groups) completed projects and gave presentations on summer research entitled "Microbiological “Microbiological profile of fresh produce from various retail stores." ” Examples of specific activities are listed below.

Presentations

1. Introduction to Food Science
2. Importance of Food Safety
   

Mini-workshops

1. 5 Second Rule
2. Bacteria Everywhere
   

Field trips

1. 1. Local grocery store- Store manager gave an overview of safety procedures used in various departments of the store.
2. Golden Flake (Birmingham, AL)
   

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 on August 28th, 2012.  Cornell University's Food Science booth engaged over 150 people from different educational backgrounds in interactive educational activities focusing on food safety.  This included coloring books on food safety and proper hand washing techniques.

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.  The 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“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 “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 “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.

During a 6 month internship in Nan Province, Thailand, Pajau Vangay, Food Science graduate student at Cornell University, designed and conducted food science-based activities with disadvantaged middle and high school ethnic minorities in three schools (over 500 students total).  Activities highlighted the importance of pasteurization, chemistry of ice cream, microbiology, and waterborne diseases.  Students were able to test water quality throughout their villages using petrifilms.