Food Science Graduate Students Win 10 Awards in Arkansas Food Protection Contest

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Gayatri Dhulappanavar, Arshpreet Khattra, Kaushik Luthra, Abass Oduola, Samuel Olaoni, Faith Ouma, Evans Owusu, Erin Ramsey and Surabhi Wason combined for five first-place awards and 10 of the top 15 spots in the AAFP poster contest.

Nine U of A graduate students in food science combined for 10 awards in a recent poster competition sponsored by the Arkansas Association of Food Protection.

Kaushik Luthra, Abass Oduola, Faith Ouma, Evans Owusu and Surabhi Wason all won first-place honors, while Wason claimed first- and second-place awards.

Luthra won the Post-Doctoral and Technical Staff category with "Impact of Storage Conditions and Moisture Content on Growth of Pathogenic Fungi in Rice."

Oduola won the Pet Food Safety category with "Impacts of Different Infrared Heat Intensities on Growth and Aflatoxin Production of Aspergillus flavus on Corn."

Ouma won the Interventions, Pre- and Post-Harvest division with "Deterrence of Microbes on Rough Rice using High-Power Short-Duration Microwave Heating Technology."

Owusu claimed top honors in the Other and Miscellaneous area with "Microwave-Cooking of Rice in Steam-Venting Packages: An Evaluation of Quality Attributes."

Wason won the Food Safety, Including Fundamental Understanding of Pathogens section with "Effect of Mild Heating and Relative Humidity on the Antimicrobial Efficacy of Chlorine Dioxide Gas."

Wason was also second in the Interventions, Pre- and Post-Harvest area with "Radiofrequency Pasteurization of Dried Basil Leaves Using In-Package Steaming," while Gayatri Dhulappanavar was third with "Persistence of Salmonella Javiana, Listeria spp. in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution at Different Temperatures."

In the Food Safety, Including Fundamental Understanding of Pathogens category, Erin Ramsey was second with "Survival of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli on In-Shell Pecans Contaminated with Soil" and Arshpreet Khattra third with "Use of Monte Carlo Simulation to Calculate Kill Ratio in Milk Powders."

Samuel Olaoni was second in the Other and Miscellaneous category with "X-Ray Imaging as a Technique to Evaluate Seed Germination and Vigor of Rice Seeds."

Luthra, Oduola, Olaoni, Owusu and Ouma are all advised by Griffiths Atungulu, associate professor and agricultural engineer and director of the U of A Rice Processing Program.

Khattra and Ramsey are advised by Jennifer Acuff, assistant professor of food microbiology and safety.

Wason is advised by Jeyam Subbiah, professor and head of the Department of Food Science, and Dhulappanavar by Kristen Gibson, associate professor of food safety and microbiology.

Atungulu, Subbiah, Acuff and Gibson are all faculty members in the Department of Food Science, and also researchers and scientists with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture.

The 2022 Annual AAFP Conference was held in September in Fayetteville.

The International Association of Food Protection advances food safety worldwide by providing a forum for food safety professionals to exchange information on protecting the food supply.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.