Food Science Commons^™

Betty Bender, Betty Bender, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Betty Bender, a native of Kentucky, was educated at the University of Kentucky, the University of Montana, and Duke University. After working in Massachusetts and Indiana, Bender married and moved to Dayton, OH, and worked for the Dayton School System for thirty years. While there she earned her master’s in Food Management. Betty was ASFSA President in 1983-84.

Sylvia Elam And Paul Mcelwain, Sylvia Elam, Paul Mcelwain, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Sylvia Elam’s involvement with the child nutrition profession goes back over thirty years. She is a native Kentuckian and holds an undergraduate degree in Home Economics from Morehead State University, with graduate work in Education. As a home economist she has worked in business and also taught at the secondary level. In the early 1970s she began work for the Kentucky Department of Education as a consultant in child nutrition. Since that time she has held various positions within the department from consultant all the way up to Assistant Director of Nutrition Services. She is now retired.

Paul McElwain has …

Rene Weber, Rene Weber, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Rene Weber became Director of Lunch Program for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1978, after working as a teacher for eleven years, and remained in this position for 22.5 years, starting with five schools and ending with 119. An active member of both the Ohio School Food Service Association and American School Food Service Association, she served as Legislative Chair for Ohio for eighteen years and three terms on the National Advisory Council for the USDA.

Measurements Of Fitness And Competition In Commensal Escherichia Coli And E. Coli O157:H7 Strains, Lisa M. Durso, David R. Smith, Robert W. Hutkins

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Although the main reservoirs for pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 are cattle and the cattle environment, factors that affect its tenure in the bovine host and its survival outside humans and cattle have not been well studied. It is also not understood what physiological properties, if any, distinguish these pathogens from commensal counterparts that live as normal members of the human and bovine gastrointestinal tracts. To address these questions, individual and competitive fitness experiments, indirect antagonism assays, and antibiotic resistance and carbon utilization analyses were conducted using a strain set consisting of 122 commensal and pathogenic strains. The individual fitness experiments, …

Sue Greig, Sue Greig, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Sue Greig is a native of Arkansas. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Education and Nutrition and a master’s degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management and in Dietetics. She and her husband moved to Manhattan, Kansas, in 1951. Greig worked in housing and food service at Kansas State University for 13 years and then served as Food Service Director for Manhattan Kansas Schools until her retirement in the 1990s. She served as President of the American School Food Service Association in 1991-1992.

Sharon Gibson Barksdale, Sharon Gibson Barksdale, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Sharon Gibson Barksdale grew up on a working farm in Calloway County, Missouri. She attended the University of Missouri at Columbia where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics. After teaching briefly she went on to serve for twenty-seven years as Director of School Food Services for Columbia, Missouri. She has been active in the Missouri School Food Service Association and also in the American School Food Service Association, serving as President from 1985 – 1986.

The Role Of Optimal Healing Environments In The Management Of Childhood Obesity, Marjorie Freedman, Judith Stern

Faculty Publications

The prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity has increased steadily over the past three decades such that obesity is now a major worldwide pediatric health risk factor. Pediatric obesity is associated with significant health problems, and is an important early risk factor for adult morbidity and mortality. This paper focuses on the role and components of optimal healing environments (OHEs) that may be useful in the management of childhood obesity: healing intention, healing relationships, health promotion and disease prevention, and healing spaces. Diet, physical activity, and behavior modification strategies used in the treatment of childhood obesity are also reviewed.

Eleanor Pratt, Eleanor Pratt, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Eleanor Pratt began her career in the child nutrition profession as food service director for Clarksville, Tennessee, schools in 1957. With a master’s degree in Home Economics she went on in 1960 to a career with the USDA Southeast Regional Office as Home Economist. She retired thirty-four years later in 1994. Ms. Pratt died at the age of 88 on August 18, 2014.

Mary Nix, Mary Nix, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Mary Nix grew up in Gordon County, Georgia during the late 1930s and 1940s. She started work in the School Lunch Program in the ninth grade, washing pots and pans at her high school. After graduating she went on to become School Food Service Supervisor for Gordon County, and later, after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1969, she became Bartow County’s first School Food Service Director. She worked for Georgia’s Department of Education for a number of years and then served as Assistant Director of School Food Services in Cobb County Georgia, where she resides. Nix was President …

Lucille Barnett, Lucille Barnett, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Lucille Barnett grew up in Union County, South Carolina, in the 1930s and 40s. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina. She served as Supervisor of County and City School Food Service in Spartanburg, South Carolina, for thirty-three years. From 1973-1974 she served as American School Food Service Association President. She resides in South Carolina. See also the Lucille Barnett Photograph Collection and the Lucille Barnett Manuscript Collection.

Vivian Pilant, Vivian Pilant, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Born in 1941, Vivian Pilant grew up in Martin, Tennessee. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics from the University of Tennessee at Martin, a master’s degree in Institution Management and a doctorate in Nutrition from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She began her career as Director of School Food Services and Nutrition Education for Weakley County, Tennessee. In August 1970, she went to work as a Coordinator of School Food Services in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, where she remained for five years. In 1975, Dr. Pilant began work with the South Carolina Department of Education Office of School …

Development Of A Novel Chloramphenicol Resistance Expression Plasmid Used For Genetic Complementation Of A Flig Deletion Mutant In Treponema Denticola, Linda L. Slivienski-Gebhardt, Jacques Izard, William A. Samsonoff, Ronald J. Limberger

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

A new expression plasmid containing the fla operon promoter and a staphylococcal chloramphenicol resistance gene, was constructed to help assess the role of fliG in Treponema denticola motility. Deletion of fliG resulted in a nonmotile mutant with a markedly decreased number of flagellar filaments. Wild-type fliG genes from T. denticola and from Treponema pallidum were cloned into this expression plasmid. In both cases, the gene restored the ability of the mutant to gyrate its cell ends and enabled colony spreading in agarose. This shuttle plasmid enables high-level expression of genes in T. denticola and possesses an efficient selectable …

The Effects Of Selenium On Estrogen-Regulated Gene Expression In Lncap Prostate Cancer Cells, Tory L. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Supplementation with Se has reduced the incidence of prostate cancer and Se status is inversely correlated with prostate cancer risk. One molecular mechanism by which high Se concentrations may affect cancer risk is by catalyzing disulfide bond formation or otherwise complexing with reactive sulfhydryl groups in cellular proteins. The estrogen receptor (ER) contains cysteines in zinc (Zn) fingers that are susceptible to oxidation and internal disulfide formation, which can prevent DNA binding. We examined ER binding to its DNA response element …

Dna Sequence Analysis Of Regions Surrounding BlaCmy-2 From Multiple Salmonella Plasmid Backbones, W.P. Giles, Andrew K. Benson, M.E. Olson, Robert W. Hutkins, J.M. Whichard, P.L. Winokur, P.D. Fey

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The emergence in the United States of resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporin (e.g., ceftriaxone) within the salmonellae has been associated primarily with three large (>100-kb) plasmids (designated types A, B, and C) and one 10.1-kb plasmid (type D) that carry the bla_CMY-2 gene. In the present study, the distribution of these four known bla_CMY-2-carrying plasmids among 35 ceftriaxone-resistant Salmonella isolates obtained from 1998 to 2001 was examined. Twenty-three of these isolates were Salmonella enterica serotype Newport, 10 were Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium, 1 was Salmonella enterica serotype Agona, and 1 was Salmonella enterica serotype Reading. All 23 …

Quality Of Regular And Parboiled Rice In Long-Term Storage, L. Coons, M. B. Halling, Michelle A. Lloyd, Lynn V. Ogden, Oscar A. Pike

Faculty Publications

There is interest in storing food for long periods of time for such uses as disaster relief efforts, military rations and space travel. Rice hermetically sealed in cans and treated to remove oxygen is available in the retail market, but further work is needed to determine the effects of long-term storage on quality. The objective of this research was to investigate the quality of regular and parboiled white rice packaged for long-term storage in cans treated to reduce oxygen levels and held at ambient temperature for up to 30 years. Eighteen samples of white rice (11 regular, 7 parboiled) packaged …

Gene White, Gene White, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Gene White grew up in Ohio and attended Miami University of Ohio, graduating with degrees in Home Economics Education and Nutrition, which was called Dietetics at that time. She then continued her graduate education at Ohio State University. She worked more than twenty years as Food Service Director in China Lake, California. She went on to become that state’s Director of Nutrition Services in the late 1970s and while in that position she served as President of the American School Food Service Association from 1977-1978. Currently she is involved with international feeding programs.

Gene White’s oral history interview was updated …

Marilyn Briggs, Marilyn Briggs, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Marilyn Briggs began her career in child nutrition as School Food Service Director for San Juan Unified school district in Sacramento, California, during the 1970s. Later she served as Coordinator of the Nutrition Education and Training Program and worked on what became the prototype for the National Nutrient Standard Menu Planning System. She recently stepped down as state Director of Nutrition Services for California to work on her doctorate in nutrition science. She has held offices in the Society for Nutrition Education, the American School Food Service Association and American Dietetic Association.

The Effect Of Religiosity And Spirituality On Work Practices And Trust Levels In Managers And Their Subordinates In Food And Nutrition Care Departments, Jennifer S. Oler

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which religiosity and spirituality affected daily work practices and leader/follower trust levels in foodservice and nutrition directors and their subordinates. A similar 72-item survey questionnaire was developed for both the directors and employees, which was completed by 129 directors and 530 employees. Both questionnaires contained questions on demographics, religious influences on work practices, trust characteristics, and three validated measures of religiosity: 1) worship service attendance (1=Religiosity Score), 2) influence of spiritual beliefs on daily life, and 3) frequency of prayer (2 + 3=Spirituality Score). Frequency data was gathered for …

Body Mass Index And Soft Drink Consumption Among Adolescents, Olivia Love Mccord

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and soft drink consumption among adolescents. It is hypothesized that soft drink consumption contributes to overweight and obesity among adolescents.

Background: Research examining the relationship between body mass index and soft drink consumption is inconsistent. Several studies have found a negative association between total sugar intake and BMI; however, others have found a link between sugar-sweetened drinks and obesity. There are no known studies that have controlled for physical activity.

Data and Methods: Data on approximately 225 adolescents were used. Frequency of soft drink consumption, type of milk, and calcium …

Learning To Teach, Teaching To Learn, Lisa Nicholson, Susan Algert, Rachael Willey

Food Science and Nutrition

Community Based Learning (CBL) successfully enhances didactic objectives in a nutrition curriculum while serving the community. University students actively solved problems in a 'real world' situation and benefited non-profit locations. Emotionally, learners profited on personal levels through successfully overcoming barriers. Content analysis was used to demonstrate that using CBL in a 'Nutrition Education and Communication' class met didactic learning objectives, enhanced students' personal confidence in teaching, and strengthened awareness of interpersonal skills. 71 students, in pairs, developed and taught nutrition lessons in diverse community locations. Students kept a reflective journal throughout the five weeks of the experience.

Effects Of Long-Term Storage On Wheat Flour Packaged In A Low Oxygen Atmosphere, N. M. Dickey, Devin J. Rose, Lynn V. Ogden, Oscar A. Pike

Faculty Publications

There is interest in the long-term storage of food for applications such as space flight, military rations, and disaster relief. Long-term storage of wheat flour under modified atmospheres has not been extensively studied. The objective of this research was to examine the effects of long-term storage on wheat flour packaged in a low oxygen atmosphere. Ten samples of wheat flour packaged in No. 10 cans were obtained from donors. Samples ranged in age from 0.5-11 years and were stored at ambient temperatures (13-27º C). Oxygen levels were below 1%, and moisture contents were between 12.0% and 14.3%. Color was assessed …

Effect Of Long-Term Storage On Baking Powder Functionality, Michelle A. Lloyd, Lynn V. Ogden, Oscar A. Pike, R. Utley

Faculty Publications

Baking powder is widely used to leaven baked products. The industry standard for baking powder shelf-life is eighteen to twenty-four months, but little information is available on baking powder functionality when stored beyond this time. A longer shelf-life would prove beneficial in certain situations, such as personal food storage, disaster relief efforts, and space missions. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of long-term storage on baking powder functionality. Six samples of double-acting baking powder in original commercial packaging were obtained from donors and two fresh samples were purchased. Samples ranged in age from 0.25-29 years and …

Quality Of Dehydrated Potato Flakes In Long-Term Storage, A. P. Neilson, H. Farnsworth, Lynn V. Ogden, Oscar A. Pike

Faculty Publications

There is interest in dehydrated potatoes packaged for long-term storage for uses such as military rations, disaster relief, and space travel. Research has shown the effects of processing and storage (up to 2 years) on dehydrated potatoes, including such aspects as sensory properties and nutrient degradation. The quality of dehydrated potatoes during long-term storage has not been studied. The objective of this study was to examine the quality of dehydrated potato flakes held at ambient conditions in residential storage up to 30 years. Thirteen samples of dehydrated potato flakes packaged in No. 10 cans were obtained from donors. Sample age …

Shirley Watkins Bowden, Shirley Watkins Bowden, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Shirley Watkins served as Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1997 – 2001, the first African-American woman to hold that position. Prior to that she was Director of Child Nutrition Programs for Memphis City Schools for seventeen years. She served as president of ASFSA from 1988 – 1989. She now works with Southern Educational Services, a consulting business concerned primarily with environment friendly school food service cafeteria operations.

Shirley Watkins Bowden sat for an update to her oral history interview with Jeffrey Boyce on May 22, 2014, at the National Food …

Expanding Nebraska’S Farmers’ Markets And Increasing Consumer Awareness Of Nebraska’S Fresh, Locally Grown Fruits And Vegetables, Food Processing Center

Food Processing Center: Reports

Survey of 300 Nebraska Households Conducted in April 2004 for Nebraska Department Of Agriculture Ag. Promotions Division.

Developing Producer & Small Processor Owned Meat Marketing Enterprises, Food Processing Center

Food Processing Center: Reports

The Food Processing Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, conducted a survey of meat processors in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Wisconsin in the second half of 2003. The survey was conducted as part of the North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability—a USDA funded initiative. The Meat Processors Association in each state provided assistance in sending surveys to over 500 meat processors. Eighty-four meat processors completed the survey for a response rate of 16%.

The survey found that small and very small meat processors in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin are actively involved in providing inspected slaughter and processing services …

Assessment Of Calcium, Milk, And Non-Milk Beverage Intake Of Multiethnic Youth Aged 10 To 18 Years, J. Keith Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Achieving and maintaining maximal peak bone mass is critical to the prevention of osteoporosis. Adequate calcium intake during youth is a major aspect of proper bone mass development. Because of the importance of calcium, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) that estimates calcium intake of 10- to 18-year-old Asian, Hispanic, and white youth living in the western United States was developed. This new FFQ was shown to accurately and reliably estimate calcium intake of these youth. Accuracy among Hispanics, however, was low and requires further evaluation. A second study examined intake of calcium, milk, and non-milk beverages of Hispanic and non-Hispanic …

Voluntary And Involuntary Weight Change And Risk Of Osteoporotic Hip Fracture In Men And Women Of Utah, Megan Ruth Mcdonough

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Change in body weight is an important determinant of risk of osteoporotic hip fracture in aging adults. Weight loss has been associated with an increased risk of hip fracture and weight gain has been associated with a decreased risk of hip fracture. Weight gain cannot be recommended as appropriate prevention against hip fracture, however, because it is associated with such adverse health outcomes as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and weight loss is commonly recommended in the treatment of these types of diseases. Clarification of how weight loss is related to risk of hip fracture is needed to resolve this issue. …

Magnesium Intake And Its Relationship With Type 2 Diabetes, Caralee Wilcock

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal and is the second most abundant cation in the human body. Magnesium plays important roles in the structure and the function of the human body; it is involved in more than 300 essential metabolic reactions in the body. Magnesium has been implicated in the prevention and treatment of many diseases including diabetes. Magnesium depletion is commonly associated with both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetes. A significant number, (between 25% and 39%) of diabetics have been shown to have decreased serum levels of magnesium. There are many possible reasons and mechanisms for this. Diabetics …

Comparative Effects Of Sodium Levulinate And Sodium Lactate On Microbial Growth, Color, And Thiobarbituric Acid (Tba) Values Of Fresh Pork And Turkey Sausages During Storage, Mihir N. Vasavada

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study compared the effects of 1.4 or 2.7% sodium levulinate or sodium lactate on aerobic plate count (APC), color, pH, and TBA value of fresh pork and turkey sausage. Both sodium lactate and levulinate inhibited growth of aerobic microorganisms during storage, compared to controls. Bacteriostatic effects of sodium lactate were dose dependent, wherein 2.7% lactate was significantly more antimicrobial than 1.4% lactate. This was not the case for sodium levulinate, where 1.4% sodium levulinate was as inhibitory to microbial growth as 2.7% sodium levulinate. Additionally, 1.4% sodium levulinate was as inhibitory to microbial growth as the higher level (2.7%) …