October 2009

AAFP Holds First Educational Conference, Honors Johnson

PowerPoint Presentations From Several Speakers Online

Nearly 100 participants attended the Arkansas Association for Food Protection conference at Tyson Foods headquarters in Springdale.

AAFP President Mike Sostrin (left) presents a plaque to UA emeritus professor Michael Johnson commemorating his work in food safety.
Graduate students from across the years gathered to honor Michael Johnson. From left are Robert Story, Erin Shannon, Greg Siragusa, Johnson, Marlene Janes and Arun Bhunia.
USDA-ARS research scientist Bill Huff judges posters during the conference's student competition.

The newly chartered Arkansas Association for Food Protection started its future in October by offering a tribute to the past decades of work by Michael Johnson, a University of Arkansas emeritus professor of food science who retired this summer. The AAFP, an affiliate of the International Association for Food Protection, recognized Johnson at a dinner during its first educational conference and announced the establishment of a scholarship in Johnson’s name to be awarded to graduate students in food safety and food microbiology.

Johnson, who joined the UA faculty in 1984, also served as research coordinator for the UA component of the Food Safety Consortium.

The AAFP conference, hosted at Tyson Foods headquarters in Springdale, Ark., attracted nearly 100 participants from academic, industry and government. The event featured a full day of presentations by several speakers from around the nation on theme of “Retail Food Safety – A Catalyst for Change.”  A half day was devoted to presentations by UA researchers for the Food Safety Consortium who discussed their current projects, plus presentations from the FSC research coordinators at Iowa State University and Kansas State University who summarized the work on their campuses.

Johnson was honored by testimonials from colleagues and former graduate students. In his remarks to the audience, Johnson said mentors should direct their time to people who are working their way up. This “spirit of investing” prepares the next generation of researchers to pass their skills along to future students, he said. He advised researchers to be proactive in food protection issues and to “take what works for you and pass it on.”

Poster Award Winners Announced

The conference also featured a poster session that included an awards competition among University of Arkansas graduate students. The winners are as follows:

First Place ($75): Madhuram Ravichandran
Poster Title: “The enhancement of antimicrobial activities of individual and combinations of phenolic compounds present in grape seed and green tea extract by nanoparticle mediated delivery on Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium in model system”

Second Place ($65):  Pallavi Singh
Poster Title: “Genetic diversity of Campylobacter population in chicken ceca”

Third Place ($65): Vijayalakshmi Ganesh
Poster Title: “Electrostatic spray treatments with organic acids and plant extracts to decontaminate Salmonella Typhimurium in spinach”


Certificates of Merit (in no particular order)

Ken Over
Poster Title: “Antilisterial efficacy of tartaric acid and grape seed and green tea extracts in conjunction with varying levels of electron beam irradiation when vacuum-infused into chicken breast meat”

Erin Shannon
Poster Title: “Effect of cell membrane disrupting antimicrobial agents on Listeria monocytogenes during cold growth”

Sherry Melendez
Poster Title: “Characterization of Salmonella and Campylobacter isolated from pasture flock poultry”

Speakers Bring Variety of Expertise to Conference

Speakers who delivered presentations (with PowerPoint presentations available on the linked titles) at the AAFP educational conference and their topics were:

Frank Yiannas, Wal-Mart Stores
Food Safety = Behavior (5 Simple Things You Can Do to Enhance Compliance)

Rena Pierami, Silliker, Inc.
Global Food Safety Initiative: Ensuring Safety through Accreditation and Certification

Kristina Barlow, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
L.m. Contamination at Retail: The FSIS Perspective

Arun Bhunia, Purdue University
RTE Meats and Intestinal Phase of Listeria monocytogenes Pathogenesis

Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University
Listeria monocytogenes at the Retail: From Public Health Impact to Transmission

Betsy Booren, American Meat Institute Foundation
Lessons Learned in the Meat Industry: Control of Listeria in RTE Meat
and Poultry Products

Phil Crandall, University of Arkansas
Cost effective strategies for minimizing Listeria monocytogenes in the retail deli

Marlene Janes, Louisiana State University
Antibody-based Methods for Detection of Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Seafood Products

Greg Siragusa, Danisco
Natural Food Protection Alternatives for Post-Harvest Food Retail

Natalie Dyenson, director of private brands quality, Walmart Stores
Overview of International Association for Food Protection

Ramkishan Rao, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA
Food Safety Funding at NIFA-USDA

Steven Ricke, University of Arkansas
Frequency and characteristics of foodborne pathogens in free-range and organic poultry

Billy Hargis, University of Arkansas
Recent Advances in Spore-Based Probiotics for Poultry

Jim Dickson, Iowa State University
Food Safety Consortium Research at Iowa State University

Curtis Kastner, Kansas State University
Food Safety Consortium Research at Kansas State University

Young Min Kwon, University of Arkansas
Next-Generation Sequencing: Applications to Food Safety Research

Navam Hettiarachchy, University of Arkansas
Inhibitory Effects of Green Tea and Grape Seed Extracts and their Constituents Phenolics Against Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Typhimurium and E .coli O157:H7:  Both Nanoscale Delivery and Replacement of Chemical Antimicrobials in Ready-to-Eat Poultry Products

Arun Bhunia, Purdue University
Nano/biotechnology-based Detection Strategies for Listeria monocytogenes from RTE Foods

Greg Siragusa, Danisco
Intestinal Profiling for Poultry Direct Fed Microbial Selection

July 2009

Members of the Arkansas Association for Food Protection display the affiliate's charter that was presented during a conference of the International Association for Food Protection in Grapevine, Texas. From left are Mike Sostrin of Wal-Mart Stores, Hillary Hagan of Tyson Foods, Michael Johnson of the University of Arkansas, Steven Ricke of the University of Arkansas, Scott Stillwell of Tyson foods and John Marcy of the University of Arkansas.