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Recent Impact
October 2004 to September 2005
Dr. Schaffner’s outreach
program continues to impact the abilities of food processors,
foodservice operators and the general public to manufacture, serve and
consume safe food.
All core constituencies
are served on a regular basis by programs that have been ongoing since
Dr. Schaffner’s arrival at Rutgers University in February 1989. Members
of the food processing and foodservice industries by a series of seven
short courses offered through Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional
Education. These programs have educated thousands of professionals and
continue to draw new participants every year. Revenue from these
programs provides seed funding for many other activities.
Members of the general
public are served through two means: transfer of information to county
faculty (primarily Family and Community Health Sciences) and through
interviews with the news media. Interaction with county faculty in
accomplished through telephone and email requests for information, and
through inservice training. Information is also disseminated through
the news media, on an “as needed” basis.
Publications
Since October 2004, Dr.
Schaffner’s team has published three peer-reviewed publications, with
three more accepted for publication. His team has also published one
book chapter.
Dr. Schaffner and his team
have published two extension-type publications between 10/1/04 and
9/30/05: One article for the World Food Logistics Organization Showcase
newsletter and one for the trade journal Food Systems Insider. Dr.
Schaffner currently has one fact sheet back from review and being
revised.
Grants
An ongoing CSREES
Integrated Research, Education, and Extension grant proposal (Reducing
risk of Clostridium spp. food poisoning using predictive
modeling, $251,792) will be completed in 2005. Dr. Schaffner continues
to use expertise gained from this research to keep local meat processing
companies in business when the USDA-FSIS threatens to shut them down for
violations in cooling times and temperatures.
Dr. Schaffner is also Co-PI (Carol Byrd
Bredbenner, PI) on a USDA CSREES Integrated Research, Education and
Extension Competitive Grants designed to study food handling and
consumption knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of young adults and the
impact of a food safety social marketing campaign ($500,000).
Dr. Schaffner is funded by
the Department of Homeland Security, National Center for Food Protection
and Defense. Dr. Schaffner is responsible for a budget of approximately
$266,099. He is also serving as interim leader for Public Health
response area while Dr. Craig Hedberg is on sabbatical.
International invited presentations
Opportunities to extend Dr. Schaffner’s
research expertise to international outreach clientele are continuing to
happen. Examples include upcoming talks in Prague, Czech Republic (co
sponsored by IAFP and ILSI Europe) and Sydney, Australia (2nd
International Conference on Quantitative Risk Assessment for Food).
Domestic invited presentations
In the last year, Dr.
Schaffner spoke at: the recent International Association for Food
Protection annual meeting in Baltimore, MD;
Interagency Risk Assessment Consortium meeting, College Park, MD; The
Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA; FDA
public meeting on sprout safety, College Park, MD; World Food Logistics
Organization Annual Convention, Las Vegas, NV; Department of Food
Science, Cornell University; International Sprout Growers Association
Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA; The 2nd Annual Food
Research Symposium, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; USDA Food
Safety and Inspection Service Technical Center, Omaha, NE; and the 4th
IFT summit on Food Defense Pertaining to Potential Intentional
Contamination, Chicago, IL.
Short courses and workshops
Local short courses
include the usual seven yearly courses offered through the cook college
continuing professional education. Dr. Schaffner also taught in four
other courses: Statistics as a Tool for the Microbial Evaluation of
Foods, sponsored by IAFP (August, 2005); Reporting the Science of Food
Safety: A workshop for Journalists, co-sponsored buy the Foundation for
American Communications and the Institute of Food Technologists (July,
2005); and two sessions of a Special Better Process Control School for
Menu Foods (January and August 2005). Participation in a September 2005
workshop sponsored by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln is planned for
later this month.
Discussions at the 2003
Stakeholders meeting prompted collaboration between Dr. Schaffner and
the Office of Continuing Professional Education to investigate the
impact of Dr. Schaffner’s OCPE short courses. Dr. Schaffner is
currently working on a publication for the Journal of Extension (or
Journal of Food Science Education) based on the data collected.
Food
microbiology risk reduction program - Rutgers Division of Dining
Services
Dr. Schaffner has continued his involvement with the Rutgers Division of
Dining Services in an ongoing program that continues to monitor and
report on the safety of the products and practices in Rutgers University
Dining Halls. This program provides practical real world microbiology
experience to graduate students, as well as useful information to the
University Sanitarian and the Director of Dining Services about the
safety of foods served in Rutgers dining halls. Data collected as part
of this project contributed to three of the peer-reviewed publications
Dr. Schaffner’s lab published this year.
Based on comment received
in the 2003 Stakeholders meeting, Dr. Schaffner initiated a new
component of this project designed to expose young high-school aged
students to the world of food microbiology. Four students from Somerset
County joined one Project SEED student (funded by the American Chemical
Society) to work in Dr. Schaffner’s lab this summer. Two students were
returning visitors from 2004. These five students learned how to make
microbiological media, test foods for bacteria, perform sanitary
inspections, and to conduct their own research. This summer research
focused on understanding methods for reducing the bacterial
contamination on tomatoes.
Service
Dr. Schaffner visibility
at the national and international level as an expert in modeling and
risk assessment has lead to two significant accomplishments in 2005.
Dr. Schaffner was invited to join the National Advisory Committee on
Microbiological Criteria for Foods. NACMCF provides food safety advice
to USDA, FDA, CDC and other federal agencies. Dr. Schaffner was also
asked to begin service as an Editor for Applied and Environmental
Microbiology. AEM has the highest citation impact of any journal that
regularly publishes food microbiology research.
Dr. Schaffner has
continued service on the IFT/FDA project, entitled: Development and
Implementation of a Risk-Ranking Framework to Evaluate Potential High
Threat Microbiological Agents, Toxins, and Chemicals in Food. In
September, 2005 he was selected to deliver the team’s final report to
FDA.
Since his last stakeholder
review, Dr. Schaffner was also selected to Chair the Technical Review
Board of the International Sprout Growers Association; to serve as a
member of the Council of Agricultural Science and Technology task force
on Microbial Risk Analysis in Food Safety; serving a second term as
Panel manager for the USDA CSREES SBIR Food Science and Nutrition Grant
panel; serving on the program committees for the 2nd
International Microbiological Food Safety Risk Assessment (Sydney
Australia, 2006) and the 4th IFT summit on Food Security
Pertaining to Potential Intentional Contamination (Atlanta, 2005);
Chair-Elect, IFT Foodservice Division and Award Jury Chairman, for the
IFT national Solberg award; Member, ASM Press books committee
(2005-2007).
Rutgers University service includes
serving as a Member of the University Biosafety Committee and the Cook
College Transforming Undergraduate Education committee. Dr. Schaffner
recently completed service on the College Appointments and Promotions
committee and the Cook College Planning Committee, serving as the
Chairman of the latter in 2005-2006.
Summary
Dr. Schaffner’s outreach
program continues to impact the abilities of food processors,
foodservice operators and the general public to manufacture, serve and
consume safe food. His programs reach from local Rutgers University
Dining Services employees in the food science building all over the
world!
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