Nebraska Food Science and Technology Department Newsletter

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March 2021

Most of the functions of the Department and the Center continue while following University and local health department directed health measures. Additionally, the University has implemented mandatory testing for anyone who will be on campus. For more information please visit https://covid19.unl.edu. If you are a visitor to the Food Innovation Center please contact us at 402-472-2831 prior to visiting.

IANR News featured Husker researchers Jennifer Clarke, Steven Thomas, Jessica Corman, and Katie Anania. This group is leading a a project to create a database that will track streams across the nation and how the elements from agriculture can affect the composition of the streams. The article is available at h ttps://go.unl.edu/znxy.

The gut microbiome research of Drs. Andy Benson and Bob Hutkins at the Nebraska Food for Health Center was featured in Nebraska Today. The Husker researchers were interviewed about gut biology and their start-up company, Synbiotc Health which looks to apply their research to aid in developing a healthy gut biome. The interview can be read at https://go.unl.edu/0jzi

The organizers of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, Dr. Robert Hutkins and the University of California, Davis’s Dr. Maria Marco, led a panel consisting of microbiologists, food scientists, nutritionists, and health care professionals from North America, Europe and Asia. The goal of the panel was to define what fermented foods are and advise on the role of fermented foods in gut health. Read more at https://go.unl.edu/hbo3.

Dr. Ozan Ciftci has been selected to join the editorial board of the Journal of Food Science. Journal of Food Science is a publication of Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) serving as an international forum for vital research and developments in food science. Dr. Ciftci will be one of the editors in the Food Engineering, Materials Science, and Nanotechnology section of the journal.

Dairy Store manager, Duy Nguyen was featured in Nebraska Today. Duy discusses growing up in Vietnam and coming to Lincoln, Nebraska in 2012. Here he pursued a degree in hospitality, restaurant and tourism management. Duy has been the manager of the Dairy Store since January 2020. You can read the article in-full at https://go.unl.edu/tvak

Hand Sanitizer Safety

It’s hard to walk through any building anywhere without encountering hand sanitizing stations or bottles of hand sanitizer for public use. Hand sanitizers are a convenient alternative for sanitizing hands when handwashing with soap and water is not possible. Hand sanitizer is flammable, but users may not be aware of that fact. Hand sanitizers contain 60% or higher concentrations of alcohol, typically ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. Hand sanitizer gives off ignitable vapors at roughly room temperature or above, vapors which can ignite if exposed to an ignition source. Hand sanitizer should be stored away from heat and flames. When using, rub hands until completely dry before performing activities that may involve heat, sparks, or open flames.

Upcoming Events

Mar 15
FDST 951
Dr. Benjamin Callahan

Mar 22
FDST 951 - Student Presentations
Minho Kim & Constanza Lefno Avello

Mar 29
FDST 951 - Student Presentations
Etaka Ayuk, Cyril, Nsom, & Sujun Liu

Upcoming Workshops

Mar 27, 2021
Recipe to Reality Seminar

Recent Publications

Chen, L., Jung, J., Chaves, B., Jones, D., Negahban, M., Zhao,Y., & Subbiah J. (2021). Challenges of dry hazelnut shell surface for radio frequency pasteurization of inshell hazelnuts. Food Control, 125, 107948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2021.107948.

Mei Chung, Naisi Zhao, Richard Meier, Devin C. Koestler, Guojun Wu, Erika Del Castillo, Bruce J. Paster, Kevin Charpentier, Jacques Izard, Karl T. Kelsey, and Dominique S. Michaud Comparisons of oral, intestinal, and pancreatic bacterial microbiomes in patients with pancreatic cancer
and other gastrointestinal diseases. Journal of Oral Microbiology (2021), vol.83(13) 1887680.

Engevik MA, Engevik AC, Engevik KA, Auchtung JM, Chang-Graham AL, Ruan W, Luna RA, Hyser JM, Spinler JK, Versalovic J. 2020. “Mucin-Degrading Microbes Release Monosaccharides That Chemoattract Clostridioides difficile and Facilitate Colonization of the Human Intestinal Mucus Layer.” ACS Infect Dis. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00634. Epub ahead of print.

Engevik M, Danhof HA, Auchtung J, Endres BT, Ruan W, Bassères E, Engevik AC, Wu Q, Nicholson M, Luna RA, Garey KW, Crawford SE, Estes MK, Lux R, Yacyshyn MB, Yacyshyn B, Savidge T, Britton RA, Versalovic J. 2020. “Fusobacterium nucleatum adheres to Clostridioides difficile via the RadD adhesin to enhance biofilm formation in intestinal mucus.” Gastroenterology. S0016-5085(20)35437-8.

Hu, X., Meneses, Y. E., Stratton, J., Lau, S. K., & Subbiah, J. (2021). Integration of ozone with co-immobilized microalgae-activated sludge bacterial symbiosis for efficient on-site treatment of meat processing wastewater. Journal of Environmental Management, 285, 112152. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112152.

Lau, S. K., Wei, X., Kirezi, N., Panth, R., See, A., & Subbiah, J. (2020). A comparison of three methods for determining thermal inactivation kinetics: A case study on salmonella enterica in whole milk powder. Journal of Food Protection, 84(3), 521-530. doi:10.4315/jfp-20-232.

Liang, J., S. L. Taylor, J. L. Baumert, A. L. Lopata, and N. A. Lee. 2021. Effect of thermal treatment on the immunoreactivity and quantification of parvalbumin with two anti-parvalbumin antibodies. Food Control 121:107675, 8 pp.

Meima, M. Y., B. C. Remington, W. M. Blom, J. L. Baumert, S. L. Taylor, B. Jeffery, M.-C. Robert, G. F. Houben, and N. B. Lucas Luijckx. 2021. The behaviour of allergenic food particles in food production areas and their unintended presence in food products. Food Control 124:107850.

Zhiyi Qiang, Bing Wang, Brenda C. Garrett, R. Patrick Rainey, Robert Superko. COVID-19: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis on cardiovascular biomarkers. Current Opinion in Cardiology. Accepted in February 2021.

Taylor, S. L., S. Jayasena, L. M. Niemann, D. M. Lambrecht, S. Kraft, and J. L. Baumert. 2021. Uh Oh! My sample tested positive for allergen residues - what next? Part 1. Confirm your results. Food Quality & Safety magazine 27(6):12-14, 39.

Taylor, S. L., S. Jayasena, L. M. Niemann, D. M. Lambrecht, S. Kraft, and J. L. Baumert. 2021. Uh Oh! My sample tested positive for allergen residues - what next? Part 2. Moving forward after confirming a positive result. Food Quality & Safety magazine 28(1):13, 33.

Xinyao Wei, Sabrina Vasquez, Harshavardhan Thippareddi, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Evaluation of Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 as a surrogate for Salmonella in ground black pepper at different water activities, International Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 344, 2021,109114.

Recent Awards

Jennifer Auchtung, Jiujiu Yiu (Lead), Dept of Agriculture-NIFA, Dietary Exosome-Like Nanoparticles and their Impact on the Gut Microbiome in Obesity, $500,000.

Jennifer Clarke, Jessica Corman (Lead), NSF-EPSCoR, RII Track-2 FEC: From Ecosystems to Evolution: Harnessing Elemental Data to Detect Stoichiometric Control-Points and their Consequences for Organismal Evolution, $1,498,667.

Robert Hutkins, Pharmavite, Evaluation of Synbiotics by In vitro Challenge, $34,000.

Hyun-Seob Song, Battelle-Pacific NW National Laboratory, Phenotypic Response of the Soil Microbiome to Environmental Perturbations, $20,000.

Bing Wang, Tan Tock Seng Hospital PTE Ltd, Service Contract for Preparing GBS/CC283 Risk Profile Report for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), $20,242.

Internships and Jobs

Director of Foodservice Research & Development

Sigma/Bar - S, Phoenix, AZ

Administer and direct efforts of Processed Meats Product Development focusing on increasing competitive advantage through low cost products and consumer preference. This Director maintains frequent contact with a broad range of business functions.

This position requires a Bachelor’s Degree in Food or Animal Science or equivalent or equivalent work experience, 10 years’ product development experience, and 5 years' experience managing a team.

For more information and to apply please visit LinkedIn

Food Science Intern (R&D) – Full Time

Pharmatech, Lindon, UT

As an intern, you would be required to play a supporting role in the development and improvement of a range of powder and liquid products, from concept through to commercialization. Utilizing best practices and procedures, you would be involved in the ideation and hands on formulation of products, scale up and commercialization support, and be required to interact across multiple departments including Marketing, Sales, Quality, Procurement, Operations etc.

To apply please contact jeff.klein@pharmatechlabs.com

MISA Foundation Scholarship

The MISA Foundation Scholarship Fund was formed in March of 1989 by the Meat Industry Suppliers Alliance (MISA) in an effort to encourage and support those interested in pursuing careers within the meat industry or engineering field. Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of the following criteria: academic performance, commitment to a career in the meat industry or engineering field as well as potential for success. Seven $10,000 scholarships are awarded each year.
Applicants may be junior or senior level undergraduate students and Masters or Ph.D. candidates in engineering or the meat sciences, attending a North American university.

Deadline to submit application is Friday, May 14th.
Winners will be notified in July.

To apply visit https://www.fpsa.org/misa/

For more news please visit: http://foodsci.unl.edu/

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