Associate Vice Chancellor announces strategic plan
Thanks to the assistance of internal and external stakeholders and the input of the IANR Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, we are pleased to announce that the 2008-2016 IANR vision and priorities have been finalized. Please share the IANR vision and priorities (below) with faculty, staff, students and stakeholders.
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources serves Nebraska by providing internationally-recognized science and education to assure the state’s competitiveness in a changing world.
To fulfill this vision with its firm focus on Nebraska, we must achieve world-class excellence in: the life sciences, ranging from molecular to global systems; sustainable food, fiber, and natural resource systems that support a bio-based economy; economics and environments for a sustainable future; and human capital development of children, youth and families.
We do that by: advancing knowledge along the continuum from fundamental research to application and education necessary to meet the current and emerging needs of the state; preparing professionals for the future; creating and implementing solutions to critical problems; expanding partnerships across UNL, the NU system, and beyond; cultivating public-private partnerships. In short, we fulfill our mission by being at work for Nebraska.
Best regards,
Susan Fritz, Ph.D.
Posted by mainoffice at 8:42 AM
24 June 2008
Let's Play Two
Raging Pathogens Open Strong
Spring classes have long been over and the Nebraska temperature may have already reached 80, but Summer hasn't officially started until the UNL Intramural Softball season has begun. Indeed, our own food science team, the Raging Pathogens, were on the field last night trying to defend the championship crown (actually T-shirts) they won last year. Starting the season with a double-header, the Pathogens missed nary a beat from last year, winning both games rather handily. In Game One, solid defense and timely hitting, the formula that worked so well last year, led to an 11-0 win and Doc Hutkins' first shut-out in 25 years. Game two was bit tighter, 7-5, with only some uncharacteristic sloppy fielding in the last inning giving the appearance of a close game. Newcomers, Mike Nietfeltd (from the Benson lab), Grant Wallace (Walter lab), and Anne Rigdon (Bullerman lab) all contributed, as did the returning veterans, Beau Davis, Kelly Dawson, Kenzi Clark, Matt Crotty, Suzy Hammons, Timothy Anderson, Bob Hutkins, and Coach Ryan Talley.
Attendance at the Opener was quite impressive, with approximately five spectators leading the cheers.
Without a game scheduled for next week, the team returns to action on Monday, July 7 at 8:15 at the Flemming Fields (just off N. 33rd Street). For the full schedule and live-action photos of the team, go to: http://www.unl.edu/foodscienceclub/Site/Softball.html
Posted by mainoffice at 4:04 PM
23 June 2008
National Pork Board Request for Proposals
Summer Call - 2008
The National Pork Board is soliciting research proposals dealing with swine health, pork safety, public health, antimicrobial use, and genomics. All proposals must be submitted via the website by 5:00 p.m. CST on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 (see www.pork.org for links). Final funding is subject to approval by the National Pork Board and USDA. For questions on the submission process, contact Bev Everitt at beveritt@pork.org or 515/223-2750.
Posted by mainoffice at 9:27 AM
Specialty Cheese Report
The FPC releases 2008 Specialty Cheese Report
NEWS RELEASE
Specialty cheese producers looking to expand
First of its kind national survey examines farmstead, artisan cheese producers.
LINCOLN, NE (June 19, 2008) — Cheese is big – and a lot of cheese is made by big companies. Yet growing five times faster than “big cheese” are the specialty cheeses – the farmstead and artisan products made by family-run companies that typically milk their own cows, make their own cheese and sell it themselves.
From the light, buttery flavor of Edam, to the sweet and tangy Havarti, to an expanding selection of Hispanic cheeses, specialty cheese now accounts for nearly 10 percent of all cheese sales, or about 900 million pounds annually. With such strong demand, nearly 80 percent of specialty cheese producers plan to increase production this year, a survey by The Food Processing Center at the University of Nebraska shows.
“The interest in artisan and farmstead cheeses made on a small scale is just tremendous,” said Dr. Rolando A. Flores, Director of The Food Processing Center. “It has given new life to many small cheese producers. Our survey, the first of its kind, measures the success of many producers who are expanding, do not fear foreign competition and have no interest in co-packing – or putting someone else’s label on their product.”
Although many European countries are major producers and exporters of specialty and unique cheeses, 71 percent of those surveyed said they were not concerned at all about foreign competition. David Jisa of Jisa’s Farmstead Cheese, a specialty cheese producer in Brainard, Neb., said imported cheeses are expensive. “Many locally-produced cheeses are competitive against imports, and a lot of people prefer to buy locally anyway,” he said.
Another important finding about the structure of the specialty-cheese market is that 66 percent of the respondents agreed that there is not a “price leader”. This means that manufacturers can set their own price to reflect the high quality of their product.
As for co-packing, 76 percent of producers were not involved in the practice, and 85 percent of those had no interest. Co-packing involves contracting out facilities to manufacture someone else’s recipe. “Many producers are busy enough already or have limited production capacity so they are not interested in that type of arrangement,” Flores said.
Survey results also show that more than 60 percent specialty and artisan cheese producers are family owned and operated, with the owner having the responsibility for making the cheese in 63 percent of operations. Other producers have a manager who specializes in cheese making.
The survey reported that 58 percent of producers get the milk for cheese production from their own herd, while another 27 percent buy milk from a local dairy producer.
A majority of producers also market their own cheese, going to farmers’ markets, retailers and wholesalers on their own. “It takes a lot of work, developing your recipes and building a customer base,” Jisa said. “First you go to farmers’ markets and then you expand to a few grocery stores. If you can grow your production and demand base, maybe you go to more stores, eventually drawing the interest of a distributor who can take things further if you want.”
Despite such difficulties, more than half of specialty cheese producers said they marketed product nationwide – taking advantage of the internet. Another 13 percent sold internationally.
The survey was conducted in late 2007 via telephone with 160 specialty cheese producers across the country. This represented more than 60 percent of the producers known to The Food Processing Center and is the only nationwide survey of such producers. The research was funded by the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC.org).
The report also contains data on cheese imports, wages paid to workers, number of workers, types of cheese produced, the number of varieties per manufacturer, pounds by variety, amount of milk used, distribution channels and capital needs.
In addition, the report contains a summary of commodity cheese production, consumption and trends, and details on cheese processing regulations that influence cheese production facilities.
An executive summary of the report is available on the AgMRC website (direct link: http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/livestock/dairy/Speciality+Cheese+Report+Executive+Summary.htm).A CD with an electronic version of the report, a printed copy of the report and a free copy of a 2001 report that includes information on developing a specialty cheese business may be purchased from the University of Nebraska’s Food Processing Center for $45. An electronic printable version of the current report may be purchased for $25.
To order, or ask questions, contact The Food Processing Center’s Mark Hutchison at 402.472.1683 or mhutchison1@unl.edu.
Posted by mainoffice at 12:00 AM
20 June 2008
Paid Internation Internships with the USDA
International Agricultural Internship Program (IAIP) Application Deadline July 1, 2008
The USDA is looking for a few outstanding senior and graduate level students to work in their OVERSEAS offices to promote U.S. agricultural interests through USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)’s International Agricultural Internship Program (IAIP) for SPRING 2009. FAS, one of the U.S. Government’s four foreign service agencies, places about ten students each semester (currently spring, summer and fall) with excellent analysis, marketing, writing, language and organizational skills, and experience to work on international agricultural trade policy issues, trade capacity building, commodity and market analysis and market promotion events in our overseas offices for a 10-16 week PAID INTERNSHIP. U.S. citizen students who are majoring in a business or science related agricultural field, i.e. Ag Econ, Econ, Finance, Business or Marketing, International Studies or Relations, Law or in a Biotechnology Program are eligible. Online registration for spring 2009 closes on July 1, 2008; summer 2009 semester closes on November 1, 2008; and fall 2009 application closes on March 3, 2009.For more information about IAIP, click on http://www.fas.usda.gov/admin/student/iaip/index.asp
Cereals manufacturer looking for food industry professionals
Zumbro River Brand is a manufacture of extruded cereals, snacks and other products. Their company is expanding and they are looking for extruder operators, managers, and R&D personnel for their Owatonna, MN and Albert Lea, MN locations. If you are interested, please contact Jim Fischer at 507-446-9097 or jfischer@zumbroriverbrand.com
Posted by mainoffice at 10:14 AM
11 June 2008
Hutkins, Schlegel, and Wehling receive award for study
USDA-NRI has recently awarded a $445,000 grant for the study “Assessing and Enhancing Stability of Prebiotic Oligosaccharides in Foods”. The principle investigators for this project are Drs. Hutkins, Schlegel, and Wehling. Congratulations!
Posted by mainoffice at 11:24 AM
09 June 2008
A letter from Daniela Bautista
Exchange student shares her experiences
Daniela Bautista has been studying at Zamorano University in Honduras over the past month. She has sent us an essay giving us an impression of her life there:
Being in Zamorano is a different experience. I moved from a relatively large university to one of about one thousand students total. The Department Head told me when I arrived that Zamorano is similar to either a military or boarding school. So I have come to realize. The school’s atmosphere is very different; students work hard on discipline and grades. Student life is more regulated and scrutinized, which is quite unsettling at first. However, I can see the benefits of motivating schedules and such discipline procedures.
For example, Wednesday is the most hectic day of the week. You wake up early enough to be at your module, in my case the dairy plant, by 6:30 am. There, you work nonstop until 10:30am when you can have lunch, rest, and get ready to go to class or work. Then you work or take class until sometime around five in the afternoon.
It’s quite funny how everyone dashes to their rooms to clean. Wednesday is cleaning day. Everyone has to clean their room spotless. No corner can be left dusty, otherwise you will receive faults. If you accumulate a certain amount of faults you will see yourself in trouble, either not placed in an internship or expelled. So you polish your room and contribute to cleaning the common areas, hallways, or bathrooms. Everything has to be spotless and floors waxed. By seven, you are exhausted. Then you study until cleaning check-up is done by Zamorano staff at eight. Then you study until the study period is over at nine and you have free time from nine to ten at night. Finally, night curfew starts and you must be in bed by 11:30.
Zamorano has a reputation for the hands-on experience students receive through their curriculum, and products developed at the university are sold in different locations in Honduras. I did not know much of the particulars until I talked with Yulie Meneses, a fourth year student in agro-industrial food engineering in Zamorano, who came to do her internship here at UNL. She gave me an idea of what it was like to be part of Zamorano and the advantages it can provide.
I approached Dr. Flores with the idea of doing a cooperative project with Zamorano in order to compete in one of IFT competitions. I thought it would be interesting to work with a university abroad, especially one in a developing country. Such institutions work with the food systems that are quite different from United States. So the arrangements began.
In addition to this intended project, I will be doing some plant work as part of the internship experience. I will work for two or three weeks in the dairy plant rotating through the different stations including cheese processing, ice-cream and yogurt processing, milk bottling, laboratory, and delivery. After that, I will work in the meat processing plant for about the same amount of time. Finally, I will move on to the pilot plant to work on my IFT competition project.
With this endeavor, I am not only seeking to be one of the first students working in a collaborative project between both universities, but also looking to grow professionally by gaining experience in how a processing plant functions. I want to gain a better idea of how my country’s industry might be developing in comparison to fellow developing countries and what ideas or strategies can be borrowed to improve our the food system.
Posted by mainoffice at 8:23 AM
04 June 2008
Congratulations to NCAA Qualifier Megan Wheatley
NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Meet June 11-14
Food Science's own heptathalete Megan Wheatley, was an automatic qualifier for the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Meet because of her outstanding performance at the Big XII meet. A native of Perth, Australia, Megan is a sophomore that excels in the classroom and on the track!
Follow her success in the June 11-14 meet in Des Moines, Iowa, on Huskers.com.
Posted by mpatentnygren2 at 3:43 PM
03 June 2008
New projects with Nebraska Corn Board
FDST projects have received funding
We are happy to announce projects that have received funding from the Nebraska Corn Board. "Development of Functional Food Products Containing Corn-derived Resistant Starch to Improve Digestive Health" is being conducted by Drs. Walter, Jackson, and Schlegel and has received $32,260 in funding. "Whole Grain Corn Extruded Snacks and Processing Effects on Natural Antioxidants" is being investigated by Drs. Rickert and Flores and has received $49,570 in funding.
Posted by mainoffice at 8:12 AM
02 June 2008
Sign up available for the Ragin' Pathogens
New season softball season coming up
From the Food Science Club:
We are starting the softball season again and want to let everyone in the department know. If anyone would like to come out and play on the team, we would love to have you. We are going to try to hold practices north-east of the Animal Science Complex this Wednesday, June 4th, and then again on Tuesday the 10th, Wednesday the 11th, and Tuesday the 17th.
If you would like to participate this year, please email me at unlfoodscience@yahoo.com, and I will get your name onto the softball email list.
Posted by mainoffice at 4:16 PM
UNL Research Focuses on Predicting Steaks' Tenderness
IANR News release focuses on Subbiahs recent work
NEWS RELEASE FROM IANR NEWS SERVICE, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
UNL Research Focuses on Predicting Steaks' Tenderness
LINCOLN, Neb. -- University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists have developed a way to predict steak tenderness before the consumer takes that first bite. The technology could be a boon to the beef industry as it would allow retailers to charge a premium for a "guaranteed tender" label.
"Beef tenderness is a primary factor in consumer satisfaction," said Jeyamkondan Subbiah, the UNL food engineer who heads the research. "However, a sufficiently accurate, nondestructive method of on-line evaluation of tenderness continues to elude the beef industry."
Current U.S. Department of Agriculture grading standards classify beef carcasses into quality and yield grades but do not assess tenderness. Since carcasses are not priced on the basis of tenderness, producers don't have a financial incentive to supply a tender product.
The beef industry long has sought technology that could scan fresh meat at two to three days postmortem and predict its tenderness when cooked by the consumer about two weeks later.
"There is a growing recognition that beef tenderness must be incorporated into the USDA quality grading process if true, value-based marketing is to be developed," Subbiah and other authors wrote for a recent presentation on the issue.
UNL is developing that technology. Its approach uses a hyperspectral imaging, a novel technology that combines video image analysis and spectroscopy. The system consists of a digital video camera and spectrograph to capture the two key qualities that affect beef tenderness -- muscle structure and biochemical properties.
In the research, 2-day aged, one-inch thick ribeyes were placed on a plate and scanned by the system, which captures multiple images at hundreds of wavelengths with regular intervals.
The combination of the video images and spectroscopy is key, Subbiah said. The video technology captures the muscle profile. Tender beef has fine muscle fibers, while tough beef has visibly coarser muscle fibers. The spectroscopy measures biochemical properties that indicate how much the steak will become tender during aging.
After scanning, the steaks were cooked and tested. Results so far are promising. The system predicted three tenderness categories -- tender, intermediate and tough -- with about 77 percent accuracy and two tenderness categories -- acceptable and tough -- with 93.7 percent accuracy.
"Beef is expensive. Consumers expect it to be tender. One bad experience can make them not buy beef for awhile," Subbiah said. "We think consumers are willing to pay a premium for a guaranteed-tender product."
Subbiah said that premium could be $1 to $2 per pound.
Hyperspectral imaging is not new. Previously it's been used to determine nutrient deficiency in plants, fecal contamination in chicken and fungal/bacterial contamination in fruit.
Researchers will continue to hone this process. Meantime, UNL is patenting the technology and hopes to identify a business interested in partnering on commercialization.
Critical to commercializing the technology will be finding a way "to take it from the lab to the plant," Subbiah said. The industry must be able to use it to evaluate a carcass, not individual steaks, and do it in about 10 seconds per carcass.
"It has to be done in the current mode of operation," without any additional, time-consuming steps, Subbiah added.
Such commercialization is likely two to three years away, he added.
The Nebraska Beef Council and National Cattlemen's Beef Association help fund this research, which is conducted through UNL's Agricultural Research Division.
IANR also includes UNL Extension and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. A 2007 study by an independent organization found IANR annually returns at least $15 in benefits to Nebraskans for every dollar of state support, making it a primary engine for economic and social sustainability (http://atworkfornebraska.unl.edu).
# # #
6/2/08-DM
Source: Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Ph.D, assistant professor, biological systems engineering and food science and technology, (402) 472-4944, jsubbiah2@unl.edu
Writer: Dan Moser, IANR News Service, (402) 472-3030, dmoser3@unl.edu
Posted by mainoffice at 1:31 PM
Nebraska College Preparatory Academy
Grand Island High School Students to Work with UNL Researchers
A group of students from Grand Island Senior High School will be spending June 2 and 3 working with UNL Food Science and Technology researchers discovering the power of high-level research. These students are participants in the Nebraska College Preparatory Academy, a program sponsored by the UNL Office of Admissions. Students will be working in the laboratories of Dr. David Jackson, Dr. Vicki Schlegel, Dr. Harshavardhan Thippareddi and the Food Processing Center.
