Two More A&T Food Science Students Receive Awards

For Immediate Release
January 7, 2002

Greensboro, NC:  Two more food science students from the Department of Human Environmental and Family Sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University brought home top honors in national and regional contests, bringing the department total to six recipients in six months.

Denise Dunn, a graduate student from Tarboro, won third place in the
graduate paper competition at the Institute of Food Technologists’ Eastern Food Science conference, held recently in Maryland. She received a $200 check and a certificate of merit.

“Evaluation of Hypolipidemic Effect of Green Tea Using Animal Models” was the title of Dunn’s paper, and in it, she covered an experiment examining the potential of green tea to reduce cholesterol levels in laboratory rats. Her advisor is Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna, a research professor in the A&T Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

At the same conference, Corrie Stowe, a senior from Winston-Salem, was awarded the Eastern Conference undergraduate scholarship for $1,000. Investigation of The title of her paper was “Thermal Tolerance of Staphylococcus aureus as Affected by  Organic Acid Salts and Low Water Activity.”

In this project, Stowe showed how organic salts can be used to inactivate the foodborne pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. This method could reduce the temperature needed to inactivate the pathogen, keeping the food product from higher temperatures known to degrade quality.

Her advisor is Dr. Ipek Goktepe, a research professor in the A&T Department of Human Environment and Family Sciences.

The mission of the Institute of Food Technologists is to advance the science and technology of food through the exchange of knowledge.

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For more information, please contact Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna or Dr. Ipek Goktepe, NC A&T Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, (336) 334-7963.