July 29, 2022 • 40 mins
We spoke with Manpreet Singh, professor and department head of the CAES Department of Food Science and Technology. From debunking some common food safety misconceptions to exploring the local, national and international impact of the department, this episode is a literal smorgasbord of information!
Resources:
UGA Cooperative Extension's website
More about UGA-Griffin
More about UGA-Tifton
The FoodPIC
UGA's Center for Food Safety
The Innovation Gateway at UGA
Edited by Carly Mirabile
Produced by Jordan Powers, Emily Davenport, Carly Mirabile
Music and sound effects by Mason McClintock, an Athens-based singer, songwriter and storyteller who creates innovative soul-pop music that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Hailing from small-town Southeast Georgia, Mason's influences range from the purest pop to the most powerful gospel. Mason is a former Georgia 4-H'er and a recent University of Georgia graduate! Listen to his music on Spotify.
Almanac is an annual publication that provides a window into the work being done at CAES to make the world increasingly healthy, equitable and sustainable. We are pleased to announce that the 2024 edition is now available online. Explore stories of science in service of humanity and the environment.
Get social with us!
Follow CAES on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and check out UGA Extension on on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest updates.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sound Effect (00:00):
[music]
Emily Davenport (00:02):
Welcome to "Cultivating Curiosity," where
we get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.
Jordan Powers (00:12):
And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:20):
We're talking to Dr. Manpreet Singh, department
head and professor in theDepartment of Food Science and
Technology at the UGA College ofAgricultural and Environmental
Sciences. Thank you for joiningus today.
Manpreet Singh (00:31):
Thank you for having me here. It's a pleasure
to talk to you and actually thegeneral public about food
science and technology and foodsafety. And hopefully, I'll
share some insights about what Iknow and have learned along my
career.
Emily Davenport (00:45):
So we've heard you're solving some food
mysteries from TikTok. Do youknow what I'm referring to?
Manpreet Singh (00:52):
Yes.
Emily Davenport (00:52):
Okay. Can you tell us more about that specific
mystery? And maybe others? Ifthere's others?
Manpreet Singh (00:59):
I'm surprised that did the rounds. But yes.
Everyone (01:01):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (01:02):
No, I think, one of the things is with the way
media is now everybody's lookingfor access. By access, I mean,
not access to be somewhere butaccess to information, someone
who can reach me is in access tome. And that means if it's about
a situation where they are, orif someone's put out a Tiktok
(01:23):
video about, um, you know, inthis case, specifically, the
example was a classic example ofsocial media, it came through
three channels of social media,to eventually be a TikTok video,
which was shared through otherplatforms. And the video was
about a customer who had goneout and bought a pack of
chicken, chicken breast in thiscase, and marinated that and
(01:46):
then, post marination, they sawsome white spots on the chicken
breast. And they were worriedabout "what is that?" And
because of the lack ofinformation, or the lack of
knowledge, customers mightsometimes be very quick to say
the grocery store did that, orthe processor who made that did
(02:07):
that. So when things like thosehappen, questions do come up for
clarification. So I was sentthat from another Extension
specialist from a differentinstitution to get my opinion
on.
Sound Effect (02:18):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (02:18):
UGA Cooperative Extension specialists are
members of the CAES faculty thatoperate at a state level to
train and assist farmers andproducers on a variety of
topics. Extension agentscollaborate with farmers one on
one, create educational programsand workshops and publish
research-based information forthe public. You can read more
(02:40):
about UGA Extension atextension.uga.edu. And we'll add
that link to the show notes.
Sound Effect (02:46):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (02:47):
And I had dealt with this over the years, with
other brands and in othercountries as well on the retail
shelves. So it ends up that ifyou have chicken or chicken
breasts, which sit out on agrocery shelf for a longer
period of time, or there's sometemperature abuse beyond the
(03:07):
intended shelf life of aproduct, you could see some
growth of mold on it. And that'swhere those spots could be. So
actually, that's a really greatquestion now that I think of it
because our own Dr. LarryBouchard, who was from the
Center for Food Safety, I wantto say about 18 years ago, or 20
years ago had a similarsituation when he had a visiting
(03:29):
scientist here and they weredoing some projects and
collecting, you know, samplesfrom retail stores. And when
they subjected them to beyond acertain intended shelf life,
they started seeing these whitespots on chicken and it actually
was ID'd out to be a type ofmold that grows on it, so that
(03:49):
provided the information on thisstory that okay, you know, just
I've seen such situations, thisis what it is, it's not
something that the processor hasdone or it's just natural foods
are going to be that way over acertain time. So that's one
example of that TikTok videothat I had gotten an opportunity
(04:09):
to look at and review but again,these are things where you can't
believe a TikTok video becausewe know how much information is
accurate until you do averification on the information.
So I always make sure that I'mverifying information before I
provide any advice on it.
Jordan Powers (04:28):
So there's a lot of products that we see out
there that we might see on agrocery store shelf, you know,
mayonnaise, pasta sauce, thingslike that, that have a label on
them that says refrigerate onceopened. So we're expected to
bring them home, open them anduse them and then put leftovers
in our fridge. How is it okaythat they're on the shelf at the
grocery store but then once openneed to be refrigerated?
Manpreet Singh (04:50):
That is an amazing question. Now I will
tell you this, that if you go toa grocery store, you will,
you're right, you will find mayoor you will find certain
products which you think shouldbe in a refrigerator on the
shelf. They're called shelfstable products, they have been
processed to such hightemperatures, that they have
been made shelf stable, thatmeans they can be kept on a
(05:12):
shelf without refrigeration. Themoment you open that container,
the moment you open that lid,now that product, that food, is
compromised. So that's why onceyou open it, you always put it
in the fridge. Same thing withsome milks. Actually, there are
some tetrapack mills which areUHD, ultra high temperature
(05:32):
pasteurized milks, they areshelf stable milks. But our
perception is that if we want tohave milk, it has to be in the
refrigerator section. So we golook for them there. That's
because we want to make sureconsumers don't have the
perception that milk sitting ona shelf is going to be bad. It's
just high temperaturepasteurized, so they are
(05:52):
completely safe and they'reshelf stable products. And
actually FDA, the Food and DrugAdministration, has a regulation
and they clearly defined them asshelf stable products.
Sound Effect (06:02):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (06:03):
If you're anything like us, you might be
wondering, what ispasteurization? So we asked.
Sound Effect (06:08):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (06:09):
Anytime you subject a milk or a juice to a
higher temperature for a certainamount of time, you're
basically, for the lack ofbetter terms, boiling it or, you
know, heating the product up andeliminating any of the inherent
bacteria, which could be presentin that food. So that's why you
pasteurize.
Emily Davenport (06:30):
Can you talk a little bit about expiration
dates on food, you know, tossingthat jug of milk out when it's
past its expiration date? Howdoes that relate to food safety?
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (06:41):
You know, that's, again, one of the myth
questions. But I love answeringthat question. Because
expiration dates are, if you goback and look at the dates on
the products now, it actuallysays sell by dates, it doesn't
say expiration dates muchanymore. Because expiration
dates kind of give theperception that this food's gone
(07:01):
bad. Sell by date means for bestquality, or for the best
experience of that food, youneed to consume that food by
that particular date. It doesn'tmean it's gone bad from a safety
perspective; the quality of thefood might have been compromised
(07:22):
or been different now. Now, ifyou're a connoisseur, and you
have a particular brand of acheese you like, and it has to
taste a certain way, you will beable to tell a day or two later
beyond a sell by date that oh,it's not the same. It has no
food safety implications. So,but people do perceive something
(07:45):
tasting bad to mean oh, it'sgone bad meaning maybe there's a
food safety issue. Or, you know,the quality not being good is a
major factor that, that's whyyou see sell by dates on the
product and not an expirationdate.
Jordan Powers (08:01):
So I feel like a lot of us grew up being told
that when you're cooking a hotfood, say a pasta sauce or
something on your stovetop thatyou eventually want to put those
leftovers in the fridge or yourmeal prepping for the week and
want to package that for theweek in the fridge, that you
need to let it sit on thecounter and cool off for a
certain period of time beforeyou then package it and put it
(08:22):
in the fridge. Is that whatwe're supposed to be doing?
Emily Davenport (08:26):
I've been told that as well. And we do that, we
let it sit out on the counterand cool down and then put it in
the fridge. So are we doing itwrong?
Manpreet Singh (08:33):
The reason why that would happen is if you have
cooked something which is hot,and it's in a glass container.
And if you put it in the fridge,the temperature fluctuations can
cause the glass container toactually, you know, break the
glass. And now you have anissue, which is not food safety
related but...
Jordan Powers (08:50):
Safety related.
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (08:51):
A bigger mess to be cleaned up in the
refrigerator. However, if youlook at the industry, what do we
do, we heat up the productreally quick, and we cool it
down really quick. It's hotproduct, which is cooled really
quick. So quick heating andquick cooling is one of the
better ways, or one of the bestways, to make sure that the
product has been cookedcorrectly, cooled down correctly
(09:11):
and it is being maintained safe.
So I have, if I have warm or hotproduct, I might wait for a few
minutes for it to just air outand then I would put it in the
refrigerator. I do not wait forit to get down to an ambient,
lukewarm temperature and then gobecause it might be 30, 40
minutes or it could be an hourdepending on how much you've
(09:32):
made and what the type ofproduct is.
Emily Davenport (09:36):
So what's the risk of letting it sit and cool
down slowly? What are we worriedabout?
Manpreet Singh (09:43):
So, when you cook products or when you cook
foods at the house, there stillcould be certain bacteria which
are a lot more resistant to heatthan your normal cooking
temperatures. Or there arebacteria which can form spores.
I'm getting too technical inthis.
Sound Effect (09:59):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (10:00):
We don't want to get too technical either, but
just wanted to jump in with somedefinitions for you. Vegetative
cells are bacterial cells thatare used for reproduction. And
spores are another type of cellused by bacteria for
reproduction or defense. Theyhave thick cell walls that help
them withstand hightemperatures.
Sound Effect (10:20):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (10:21):
But there are bacteria which form spores which
are heartier than normalvegetative cells. Now those
spores, when they're in warmerenvironments, can start
germinating because they werejust heat shocked with all the
food, that the heat that youprovided to the food. It's a
typical examples are typicalcase of this is around
Thanksgiving with gravy type ofproducts. When you cook the
(10:44):
product and let it sit out, it'swarm, the you shock the spores,
if there were those type ofbacteria in the food, and now
those spores will start togerminate and the bacteria
starts to grow in it. So that'swhere it starts getting to be a
little bit of a food hazard or adangerous situation.
Emily Davenport (11:03):
And how fast can some bacteria multiply?
Manpreet Singh (11:06):
Oh! Given ideal conditions within 20 minutes,
the bacteria double itself.
Sound Effect (11:10):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (11:11):
When Dr. Singh refers to ideal conditions, he
means an environment with warmtemperatures and enough food to
support bacterial growth, likeyour gravy sitting on the
counter on Thanksgiving.
Sound Effect (11:22):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (11:23):
So if there's ideal conditions, and there's
decent number of bacteria inthere, high enough number, you
can imagine that after threehours of sitting out on a
counter, it could be prettyintense.
Jordan Powers (11:39):
That'll just give you the heebie-jeebies.
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (11:40):
I'm not here to scare you guys.
Jordan Powers (11:45):
So I feel like some people though, not looking
at my husband, but looking at myhusband, need to be a little
scared into following thosesafety tips. Now I have one of
those kind of curiosityquestions on the flip side of
that; I love to bake. And a lotof the recipes that I read talk
about bringing things up to roomtemperature before you use them,
you know, bring your buttermilkup to room temperature, bring
(12:07):
your eggs up to roomtemperature. Is there the
reverse risk there of bringing acold food or refrigerated
product to room temperaturebefore using it? Or is there
some kind of food safety netbuilt into that?
Manpreet Singh (12:21):
Oh, no, again, that's a great observation,
Jordan, because if you thinkabout why they're saying that is
not, the main purpose of that isyou want to bring it to a room
temp so that you know when youmix the products, they mix well.
Sometimes there are coldingredients which don't mix
well. However, now if you thinkabout your baking temperatures,
(12:43):
you bake them really hot. Atthat temperature, let's, I mean,
last I checked, there was anoven in our house, which was
running at 350 degrees for 20,30 minutes, that's pretty high
temperature, for a pretty longenough time. So when you bake
something, post baking, thatrisk is fairly low. Or, I would
(13:03):
never say no risk, but I willsay it's fairly low. And in that
scenario, when you're doing,when you're making or baking
products, rather, you can bringthem to ambient temperature and
then you're, you know,ultimately, you're going to bake
it and the temperature is goingto be fairly high. So the risk
is not much.
Jordan Powers (13:22):
Okay. But you're telling me I should avoid that
raw cookie dough or cake batter.
Everyone (13:26):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (13:27):
You know, raw, again, raw cookie dough is a
thing, right? Because until nowpeople, you know, were not
paying attention to it and allof a sudden there were, there
were some outbreaks related toraw cookie dough. We have
certain enterprises in our town,which actually sell cookie
dough, but it is not raw. It isnow pasteurized. So if you ever
(13:47):
go to certain stores and you getcookie dough, you can eat it,
because they say it'spasteurized. However, there are
situations where there's rawcookie dough, which is not
pasteurized. Now, that could bedangerous.
Jordan Powers (14:00):
Noted. I'll do my best to keep my finger out of
that, that baking dish.
Emily Davenport (14:06):
What food safety information do you think
is important for the generalpublic to know?
Manpreet Singh (14:10):
There's no day that goes by without someone
asking me that question. So Ifeel fairly confident in some of
the things that I think aboutare valuable. But that's just my
opinion on things, but I'm sureyou talk to different food
safety professionals, they willhave different preferences and
advice that they give to peoplearound the world. For me, one
(14:32):
thing I always harp on, and it'sa cliche, is washing hands. What
better time than now, right?
Over COVID times, everybody wasdiscussing, wash your hands,
then sanitize. It's nothing newin the food safety world. We
always have preached that. Sowhen this happened, for people
like us, it's not anythingdifferent that we wash our hands
and then sanitize but, you know,it seems as a minor thing, but
(14:56):
washing hands properly goes along way. Cross contamination,
touching raw foods and thentouching cooked foods, or
touching meat products and thentouching produce, there's always
the chance of crosscontamination and people getting
sick because if you think ofproduce, most of it is consumed
raw. So if we are going to touchmeat and then go back and touch
(15:18):
produce without washing hands,there could be chances of people
getting sick from that. Sowashing hands is one that I
really harp on widely. Some ofthe other things I mean, if
you're just, you know, you sinceyou talked about summertime,
cooking foods, not just cookingfoods to say you cook your food
until the juice is dry, becauseI believe in thermometers. So if
(15:41):
you cook a product, and ifyou're going to cook it to an
internal temperature that isdesired of the product, have a
thermometer ready. Now thesecond part becomes using the
thermometer correctly. Sothere's so many layers to this.
But understanding that you needto have the tools to be able to
not only produce but to actuallycook food safely over the
(16:04):
summertime grilling is a classicexample making sure the meat's
cooked properly. The otheraspects could be just when
you're doing your cutting in thehouse, having different set of
cutting boards when you'recutting produce versus cutting
meat or meat products, just sothat you're avoiding any sort of
cross-contact. So these are someof the very common simple topics
(16:27):
or advices I talk about from afood safety perspective. The
other ones, always because it'sso hot outside right now is we
assume that we're going to takea product out of a refrigerator
and keep it on our kitchencounter, and come back two hours
later and still be okay withthat. So I always say keep cold
foods cold and hot foods hot,and eat them the way they're
(16:50):
intended to be. And by that Imean if a hot food is intended
to be eaten hot, don't leave itout to be lukewarm. And there
for 30, 40 minutes and then goback and consume it because
there's a potential for that nowto be a source of contamination
or a source where bacteria couldbe and then ultimately impacting
public health. Let's followthese simple rules.
Jordan Powers (17:15):
You never want to be the person at the party that
makes everybody sick, right?
Everyone (17:18):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (17:18):
Absolutely not.
Yes.
Jordan Powers (17:20):
Not the legacy you want to leave at the summer
barbecue.
Manpreet Singh (17:22):
I hope not.
Everyone (17:23):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (17:24):
You know, speaking of food safety, do you
have any personal stories orprofessional stories of food
safety mishaps that you'veexperienced along your career?
Manpreet Singh (17:33):
Oh, there's plenty. But I think most of
those type of situations happenwhen you travel. If you notice,
you go back and look at like aCDC data or the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,their data and anecdotal
information that you get frompeople. Typically, you will see
people reporting situations orissues from travels. Traveler's
(17:56):
diarrhea is a very commonterminology that people use. So
we were in a country where itwas a tradition to have shrimp
with lime juice and like aceviche type of product. I
usually would not mind it, ifI'm in country, if I know a
(18:17):
place or a restaurant, whichwhich has a good history, and if
I know the sources of that, butwhen you go into like banquet
type of settings, where, youknow, things are happening
behind the scenes, whichmajority of our lives when you
go out and eat, we're basicallyin the hands of the food
preparers. So, we were at abanquet. And of course, the
(18:40):
ceviche-type of product wasbeing served. And I distinctly
remember telling my colleaguesthat I will not be eating my
plate. And they asked me thequestion, why not? And I said, I
just don't feel comfortable withit. Somebody else was like,
well, I'll eat it. It doesn't doanything to me. I've always
eaten these type of products. Isaid yes. But we're also
traveling, and we don't know howlong and where this product has
(19:02):
come from. But you know, peoplelike to enjoy food. So they did.
But early next morning, we had aflight back to Atlanta.
Jordan Powers (19:12):
Oh no.
Manpreet Singh (19:13):
And it is just not a fun ride. If you have
gotten sick and are on a planefor about 10 to 11 hours. And,
and to date, even to this date,they they do come back and call
me and we make jokes about it.
But they always listen nowsaying I think you were right. I
said you think I was right orwas I right? Because you did get
(19:35):
sick.
Everyone (19:37):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (19:38):
And so that's one example of where it is. And
another one. You know typicallyit happens in larger settings.
We were out, and this happenedin the U.S., we were at a
tailgate event somewhere and Idon't tend to eat too many
products or foods which aresupposed to be served cold and
(19:59):
when they're sitting out in thesun, because if you think of
classic football season inAugust, September, until mid
October in the southeast, itdoes get pretty warm and humid.
And foods do sit out, and itmight not be as cold. So I try
to avoid certain foods, justbecause, you know, they're
sitting out for that long. Andpeople in those settings were
(20:23):
consuming, you know, just foodlike potato salads, or, you
know, a chicken salad or a, youknow, an egg salad. But they all
have a lot of mayo and othertypes of like, products in them,
which, if they're warm, cancause major public health
(20:43):
issues. So I tend to stay awayfrom that, just because of the
temperatures now. So perfect.
It's a cold winter day, and it'ssitting out there, I would be
okay with that. But that's justsome examples of where I have
seen situations and firsthandseeing that.
Jordan Powers (21:01):
Absolutely. So time before tailgate season to
look up those recipes forneutral temperature foods that
can sit out for long periods oftime.
Manpreet Singh (21:09):
Well, and I'm sorry, yes, not only neutral
temperature food, but the otheridea is, yeah, you can, there's
no, there's nothing stopping usjust making sure we keep it
cold. And, and ensuring, becausewe get so busy in our
entertainment and social eventat that moment that nobody
bothers to go back and check ifthe potato salad is still cold.
(21:30):
Is the ice still there? Or didit all melt away? And so if we
can just be mindful of the typeof foods we're putting on the
table, and you know, if itconstantly check on them, then,
it's always okay to do that.
Emily Davenport (21:44):
OK, I think I'm guilty of not keeping cold food
cold. It's one thing to be likemy hot food has to say hot
because you want it to be hot,but you don't think cold food
needs to be cold. So that's a...
Jordan Powers (21:57):
good reminder.
Emily Davenport (21:58):
Tp keep in mind, I don't want to eat at a
tailgate in August anymore.
[laughter]
Sound Effect (22:06):
[music]
Jordan Powers (22:07):
Can you tell us a little bit about your story? How
did you get to where you aretoday?
Manpreet Singh (22:12):
Absolutely. I think that's a very good
question and an interestingquestion, in my opinion, because
I have been or have done therounds around the land grant
institutions.
Sound Effect (22:22):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (22:23):
A land grant university is an institution in
the United States that providesresearch based programs and
resources for residents withinthe state. There's at least one
land grant institution in everystate and territory of the
United States as well as theDistrict of Columbia. Each
institution receives federalbenefits as set forth by the
(22:43):
Morrill Acts of 1862, 1890 and1994.
Sound Effect (22:48):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (22:49):
I started out as an undergraduate with an ag
science major, and majored infood science and technology in
India, which also was from aland grant institution. From
there, I moved on for myMaster's at Kansas State
University in food science,which again was another land
grant institution in the Midwestand moved on to Iowa State for a
(23:10):
Ph.D. in food science and humannutrition, which again was a
land grant, so had a flavor ofland grant within different
countries and but only in theMidwest region of the country.
Along the lines, as soon as Ifinished my Ph.D., I had the
opportunity and was fortunateenough to get a job as a faculty
member in a food safety andmicrobiology in Auburn
(23:32):
University, which was anotherland grant university in our
Southeastern Conference, spentabout seven years in Auburn, I
started as assistant professor,but when I left Auburn, I was
promoted in tenure to be anassociate professor, was
recruited to go to PurdueUniversity in the food science
department and wasn't working inExtension and research
(23:52):
specifically. I must mentionwhen I was in Auburn, I had a
research and teachingappointment. So I had the flavor
of teaching both these sides ofthe spectrum of the land grant
mission. And then when I movedto Purdue, I was focused a
little bit more on Extension andresearch. So I got the extension
side of the mission as well fromthe land grant institutions. I
(24:12):
worked at Purdue for about fiveyears and, you know, along the
lines as you move along in yourcareer, your personal life also
changes. When we had moved toWest Lafayette, Indiana, it was
just me and my wife. And then wehad a daughter when we were in
Indiana, and then we justthought it was about time that
if we had an opportunity to movecloser to family, and an
(24:35):
opportunity came along in Athensand have been here since 2017,
at UGA and have loved every partof being at Athens and being
closer to family. So that'swhere I am and here I am today.
Jordan Powers (24:46):
It's always important to move near family
and it's always great when anopportunity like you have at UGA
comes along with it.
Emily Davenport (24:54):
What do you wish that the world knew about
the Food Science and Technologydepartment at UGA?
Manpreet Singh (25:00):
The Department of Food Science and Technology
at UGA which is within theCollege of Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences, needs nointroduction to the world. It
has done amazing things over theyears. If you look at it, we're
a department which is spreadacross the Athens and the
Griffin Campus.
Sound Effect (25:15):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (25:15):
CAES offers undergraduate and graduate
programs on three campuses inGeorgia: Athens, Griffin and
Tifton. While you may hear theAthens campus referred to as
"main campus," and it does offerthe highest number of
undergraduate and graduateprograms, the Tifton Campus
celebrated 100 years of serviceand 2019 and excels in research
(25:35):
on a wide range of commodities,including cotton, peanuts,
vegetables and turfgrass, all ofwhich make agriculture the
number one industry in Georgia.
The Griffin Campus, meanwhile,was originally established as
the Georgia Experiment Stationin 1888, and has played an
integral role in the developmentof modern agriculture. The
Griffin Campus is also home tothe UGA Center for Food Safety,
(25:56):
and the Food Product Innovationand Commercialization Center.
Sound Effect (26:01):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (26:03):
And we have tremendous faculty who are world
renowned in the research theydo, anywhere ranging from food
chemistry, to food microbiology,to food engineering, processing.
But some of the things that weare known for is the Center for
Food Safety, which is recognizedworldwide and has built a
reputation. We are in theprocess of actually now building
(26:26):
a brand for the Food ProductInnovation and Commercialization
Center. And that is down on theGriffin Campus. But our faculty
doing the research and winningawards for the research they
have been doing on bothcampuses, along with our
students, I must mention, theyare very motivated. And they do
enjoy the challenge that foodscience presents to them. But
(26:49):
one thing that I will say isthat we produce world class
students from our department whogo on to be leaders in the
industry, whether it's being inthe food industry, whether it's
being in academia or governmentorganizations, they all flourish
in their careers. And that'sbeen a tremendous thing to watch
over the years.
Jordan Powers (27:09):
Absolutely. So you, you talked a little bit
about the students and, andwhere they go in their careers
after leaving the program orcompleting the program; what
types of careers would graduatesbe looking to enter?
Manpreet Singh (27:23):
For students who are typically graduating,
whether undergraduates ormasters or Ph.D.'s, they are in
the industry in the capacitiesof doing product development. If
you look at ideas, like justlet's look at our day, from this
morning, you wake up and ifyou're a person who eats cereal,
someone was there, as a foodscientist, developing the cereal
(27:44):
for convenience of us to consumeit; if you go along the day, and
if you're someone who eatsyogurt, and you're now switching
to a Gogurt, someone came upwith the idea to make it more
convenient. So a food scientistwas involved in that, every
aspect of your day that you'reconsuming of food, whether it's
convenient, whether it's tasty,and yummy, or whatever that
(28:05):
aspect is, a food scientist hasput an effort for that to be
enjoyed. And I should mentionfor it to be safe for every
different demographic of thepopulation to consume. So they
they get jobs in productdevelopment, quality assurance,
food safety, regulatory agenciesand looking at regulatory
policies, the sky is the limitfor the type of jobs they can
(28:27):
have, and they start flourishingin them.
Jordan Powers (28:29):
That's gonna make me look at any food package I
pick up a little bitdifferently, I think and how
many people were involved ingetting it to my hands to eat.
Everyone (28:38):
[laughter]
Emily Davenport (28:39):
Definitely. You mentioned the FoodPIC briefly,
can you tell us more about theFoodPIC and what it is and why
it matters?
Manpreet Singh (28:47):
Yes, the FoodPIC, as I mentioned, the
Food Product Innovation andCommercialization Center, it is
a center down on the GriffinCampus. It actually is a
facility which encouragesentrepreneurs, from the point of
having an idea to develop a foodproduct, to making it market
(29:08):
ready so that they could go andmarket that in the market space.
I'll give you an example. Ifsomeone had an idea of
developing some sort of a dairyproduct, they would come to the
FoodPIC, talk through that wecall it the ideation phase. And
then with the help of technicalassistance that we can provide,
(29:30):
from the FoodPIC through ourFoodPIC director, FoodPIC staff
or faculty who are engaged withFoodPIC activities, they could
then see what are the differentaspects of that dairy product
that need to be taken intoaccount so that they can develop
a stable, safe and market viableproduct. And at the end of the
day, they got to make a livingtoo. So we also help them look
(29:53):
at some economics andcompetition in the market to see
how feasible would it be forthem to get into the market so,
we call it some feasibilitystudies as well. So the way I
look at it, as I say it's fromideation to market ready
products, anything in between iswhat FoodPIC can help with.
Jordan Powers (30:13):
That's an incredible service to have right
here in the state of Georgia.
How do people get involved? Howwould a producer or someone with
one of these ideas get involvedwith the FoodPIC?
Manpreet Singh (30:24):
So first point of contact would be someone who
would reach out, maybe throughour UGA website through our
Extension resources or Extensionagents in the counties, or even
in the region, someone mightsay, okay, if you have something
that you have an idea aboutreach out to Food Science and
Technology, then we make theconnections through Extension,
or through the faculty who aregoing to be involved with that.
(30:46):
The faculty follow up with theseentrepreneurs, or stakeholders,
if you will, and, have adiscussion on what exactly is on
their mind before we getstarted. So as they are reaching
out to us, we're also guidingthem through the process of what
needs to be happening and thenext step, and slowly and
surely, we get to the point ofokay, now you got to work with
(31:08):
our Innovation Gateway. To havean NDA a nondisclosure
agreement.
Sound Effect (31:12):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (31:12):
The Innovation Gateway helps UGA researchers
move their researchbreakthroughs into the
marketplace through licensingand startups. We've added a link
to their website in the shownotes.
Sound Effect (31:22):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (31:23):
So that way, when these products are being
developed, people who aredeveloping it, want to make sure
that they own the rights andthey want to make sure that they
can have insights to the recipesand search for the product. So
working through these differentpieces is very critical. But we
guide them through that, throughour FoodPIC staff, through our
Extension staff, and ourExtension faculty as well.
Jordan Powers (31:46):
Tell us about some other ways that your
department partners with theindustry.
Manpreet Singh (31:50):
Food science and technology is actually a very
applied field. If you thinkabout it from that perspective,
I just gave you some examples onproduct development or sensory
science where you're tastingproduct to see whether people
will like it; food safety. Sothere's a lot of applied aspects
to food science. So naturallyindustry is a go to partner for
(32:14):
us. We have a lot of alumni inthe industry, we have quite a
bit of our students who comeback to us and seek our
expertise because of them beingfamiliar with our expertise. And
not to mention that we havefaculty who actually travel
around the world, and every oneof them is seeking them,
(32:34):
inviting them to theirconference or to their facility,
because they view them asexperts in their field. So when
that happens, naturally, there'sa collaboration that starts
happening. And so there's a lotof organic discussions with
industry, but eventually they doturn into some sort of project.
(32:55):
The other side is our facultyare very successful in getting
grants. With that what happensis, when they're publishing or
when our Extension faculty aregoing out and doing workshops,
it increases visibility, andslowly if you do a search on
some ideas that somebody wants,if we pop up, then that's
another way of looking at it. Soit just lends itself, the field
(33:16):
itself lends us to havecollaborations and engage with
the industry.
Emily Davenport (33:20):
Can you tell us how the work your department is
doing is making an impactlocally, nationally, and
internationally?
Manpreet Singh (33:28):
Our faculty, our students and other, you know,
researchers who are engaged withlocal research, we have people
who are doing research with thelocal commodity boards in the
state of Georgia, whether it'son pecans or whether it's on you
know, the citrus board. I mean,we did not realize there's a big
pomegranate industry in thestate of Georgia as well. We
(33:49):
have faculty who are engagedwith them to see how they can
work with them to value add ontheir products, because that's
where the money is. If I were togo get a pomegranate, yes, it's
an X amount of dollars. But if Ican transform that pomegranate
into some sort of a dehydratedpowder, which I can now later on
use into a juice, that'samazing. That's value to it.
(34:11):
People pay more money for that.
But the commodity boards like ittoo, because they want to make
sure that there is value inthat. The next part. I mean, if
you if you look at,internationally, I'll give you a
personal example. We justrecently were in Senegal, and we
were awarded a food safetyinnovation lab grant for the
dairy value chain in Senegal. Sowe were out in Senegal in, I
(34:35):
believe mid to late May. Wespent about two weeks there,
myself and Dr. HarshaThippareddi is now the interim
dean for research and he's afaculty member in poultry
science, but he's a co-PI withme. Understanding the dairy
industry all the way from, youknow, the milking to the point
of milk collection,transportation, transforming
(34:57):
that milk into cheese andyogurts and other products to be
available in the market. Andunderstanding what the gaps are
in these continuum, becausethose gaps are key gaps where
food safety has an implicationon public health. And not only
does it help improve publichealth, but it also helps them
(35:17):
in improving their local market,their products, and eventually,
with the hopes of, you know,influencing policy change, we
have a lot of partners inSenegal that we're collaborating
with. And eventually, the goalis to see that they increase
their exports of the dairyproducts that they're producing.
So that's just one example ofhow things are done. Recently,
(35:39):
there was a study abroad programwith a faculty member they took
him to Costa Rica, it's called aChoco Rica program. So
definitely students get to learna little bit about the chocolate
industry as well, and how theproducts are made. So there's
always these different movingparts, we had a faculty member
who was in Italy with theCortona project. So students
were enrolled in that program tounderstand the wine industry in
(36:01):
Italy. So it just is such anamazing field to be in that it
ranges to a broad spectrum. And,you know, people all over the
world eat foods. So it's amazingto have this.
Jordan Powers (36:16):
Okay, wine and chocolate, I feel like I need to
go get my advanced degree infood science and technology now.
That sounds amazing.
Emily Davenport (36:25):
So you mentioned that this is an
applied science with a lot ofopportunities in industry.
What's kept you in academia?
Manpreet Singh (36:32):
So one of the things that I do enjoy by being
in academia is that it's calledthe academic freedom, right. So
if I choose to do research in aspecific area, I have the
freedom to do that. The otherpart of that is recruiting
students, training them, themflourishing through the program
and going out and doing thethings they do in their
professional lives is just anamazing opportunity to view that
(36:55):
growth is such a impactfulgrowth that you can see day in
and day out, which is excitingto see. And that's why I like
the academic side. Yes,industry. Like I said, the food
science and technology is suchan applied field industry is all
over it. But I enjoy theinteraction with students, being
(37:16):
in a campus environment,enjoying the energy of the
campus town, to, to keep megoing and motivated to do what I
do day in, day out.
Jordan Powers (37:26):
So you're you're solving food mysteries from
TikTok, you're traveling toSenegal, you're leading a
department that covers thingslike the FoodPIC and the Center
for Food Safety; what does atypical day look like for you?
Manpreet Singh (37:40):
As you see is all over the place. But if I
were to look at a typical day,when I'm here, it starts off
with definitely, you know,understanding what are the
departmental needs on a day today basis; we are a changing
department, we have quite a fewnew faculty. So right now, if I
look at a typical day, it doesfocus on "what are our next
(38:02):
steps?" How do we remainrelevant? How do we have
discussions on our undergraduateenrollment? We talk about these
every day, day in day out. Howdo we maintain our graduate
student numbers? How can we beon the social media scene? How
can we appeal to the youngergeneration to be a major of
choice? So we continuously lookat hiring different type of
(38:23):
people, that's also a strategy.
But engaging in discussions withstakeholders, and by
stakeholders, I say, you know,our faculty, our students, our
staff, the college, theuniversity, outside
stakeholders, industry partners,how do we continually engage
with them and find collaborativeopportunities? So, and then
meeting with students. That's avery important part, because we
(38:46):
always tend to hear what we'redoing good. But I want to see
how can we improve the thingsthat we're not doing so good.
And that's where, maybe once aweek, we're meeting with a
student and talking about, sowhat are the things which are
not going so good that we canlook at, and then we can improve
on that. Because we want to makesure it's a good experience for
the students too. So I know I'vegone all around the place, but
(39:10):
that's kind of how the day lookslike. So that's a typical day in
my life.
Jordan Powers (39:15):
An honest representation of a typical day.
Manpreet Singh (39:17):
Yes.
Everyone (39:17):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (39:19):
Well, thank you so much for coming in today, we
know that you are really busyand don't want to keep you but
before we let you go, is thereanything else that you would
like our audience to know today?
Manpreet Singh (39:28):
No, I think we've covered quite a bit in
this session. But once again,thank you for giving me this
opportunity to talk to you guysabout it. But more importantly,
even telling our story from foodscience and technology and
showcasing our faculty, ourstudents and staff because they
are all doing amazing things.
They're all very relevant. Andwe hope to continue to stay that
(39:49):
way in the very near future.
Jordan Powers (39:53):
Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming in and
joining us today.
Sound Effect (39:56):
[music]
Emily Davenport (40:02):
Thank you for listening to "Cultivating
Curiosity," a podcast producedby the UGA College of
Agricultural and EnvironmentalSciences. A special thanks to
Mason McClintock for our musicand sound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.
[music]
Emily Davenport (00:02):
Welcome to "Cultivating Curiosity," where
we get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.
Jordan Powers (00:12):
And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:20):
We're talking to Dr. Manpreet Singh, department
head and professor in theDepartment of Food Science and
Technology at the UGA College ofAgricultural and Environmental
Sciences. Thank you for joiningus today.
Manpreet Singh (00:31):
Thank you for having me here. It's a pleasure
to talk to you and actually thegeneral public about food
science and technology and foodsafety. And hopefully, I'll
share some insights about what Iknow and have learned along my
career.
Emily Davenport (00:45):
So we've heard you're solving some food
mysteries from TikTok. Do youknow what I'm referring to?
Manpreet Singh (00:52):
Yes.
Emily Davenport (00:52):
Okay. Can you tell us more about that specific
mystery? And maybe others? Ifthere's others?
Manpreet Singh (00:59):
I'm surprised that did the rounds. But yes.
Everyone (01:01):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (01:02):
No, I think, one of the things is with the way
media is now everybody's lookingfor access. By access, I mean,
not access to be somewhere butaccess to information, someone
who can reach me is in access tome. And that means if it's about
a situation where they are, orif someone's put out a Tiktok
(01:23):
video about, um, you know, inthis case, specifically, the
example was a classic example ofsocial media, it came through
three channels of social media,to eventually be a TikTok video,
which was shared through otherplatforms. And the video was
about a customer who had goneout and bought a pack of
chicken, chicken breast in thiscase, and marinated that and
(01:46):
then, post marination, they sawsome white spots on the chicken
breast. And they were worriedabout "what is that?" And
because of the lack ofinformation, or the lack of
knowledge, customers mightsometimes be very quick to say
the grocery store did that, orthe processor who made that did
(02:07):
that. So when things like thosehappen, questions do come up for
clarification. So I was sentthat from another Extension
specialist from a differentinstitution to get my opinion
on.
Sound Effect (02:18):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (02:18):
UGA Cooperative Extension specialists are
members of the CAES faculty thatoperate at a state level to
train and assist farmers andproducers on a variety of
topics. Extension agentscollaborate with farmers one on
one, create educational programsand workshops and publish
research-based information forthe public. You can read more
(02:40):
about UGA Extension atextension.uga.edu. And we'll add
that link to the show notes.
Sound Effect (02:46):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (02:47):
And I had dealt with this over the years, with
other brands and in othercountries as well on the retail
shelves. So it ends up that ifyou have chicken or chicken
breasts, which sit out on agrocery shelf for a longer
period of time, or there's sometemperature abuse beyond the
(03:07):
intended shelf life of aproduct, you could see some
growth of mold on it. And that'swhere those spots could be. So
actually, that's a really greatquestion now that I think of it
because our own Dr. LarryBouchard, who was from the
Center for Food Safety, I wantto say about 18 years ago, or 20
years ago had a similarsituation when he had a visiting
(03:29):
scientist here and they weredoing some projects and
collecting, you know, samplesfrom retail stores. And when
they subjected them to beyond acertain intended shelf life,
they started seeing these whitespots on chicken and it actually
was ID'd out to be a type ofmold that grows on it, so that
(03:49):
provided the information on thisstory that okay, you know, just
I've seen such situations, thisis what it is, it's not
something that the processor hasdone or it's just natural foods
are going to be that way over acertain time. So that's one
example of that TikTok videothat I had gotten an opportunity
(04:09):
to look at and review but again,these are things where you can't
believe a TikTok video becausewe know how much information is
accurate until you do averification on the information.
So I always make sure that I'mverifying information before I
provide any advice on it.
Jordan Powers (04:28):
So there's a lot of products that we see out
there that we might see on agrocery store shelf, you know,
mayonnaise, pasta sauce, thingslike that, that have a label on
them that says refrigerate onceopened. So we're expected to
bring them home, open them anduse them and then put leftovers
in our fridge. How is it okaythat they're on the shelf at the
grocery store but then once openneed to be refrigerated?
Manpreet Singh (04:50):
That is an amazing question. Now I will
tell you this, that if you go toa grocery store, you will,
you're right, you will find mayoor you will find certain
products which you think shouldbe in a refrigerator on the
shelf. They're called shelfstable products, they have been
processed to such hightemperatures, that they have
been made shelf stable, thatmeans they can be kept on a
(05:12):
shelf without refrigeration. Themoment you open that container,
the moment you open that lid,now that product, that food, is
compromised. So that's why onceyou open it, you always put it
in the fridge. Same thing withsome milks. Actually, there are
some tetrapack mills which areUHD, ultra high temperature
(05:32):
pasteurized milks, they areshelf stable milks. But our
perception is that if we want tohave milk, it has to be in the
refrigerator section. So we golook for them there. That's
because we want to make sureconsumers don't have the
perception that milk sitting ona shelf is going to be bad. It's
just high temperaturepasteurized, so they are
(05:52):
completely safe and they'reshelf stable products. And
actually FDA, the Food and DrugAdministration, has a regulation
and they clearly defined them asshelf stable products.
Sound Effect (06:02):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (06:03):
If you're anything like us, you might be
wondering, what ispasteurization? So we asked.
Sound Effect (06:08):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (06:09):
Anytime you subject a milk or a juice to a
higher temperature for a certainamount of time, you're
basically, for the lack ofbetter terms, boiling it or, you
know, heating the product up andeliminating any of the inherent
bacteria, which could be presentin that food. So that's why you
pasteurize.
Emily Davenport (06:30):
Can you talk a little bit about expiration
dates on food, you know, tossingthat jug of milk out when it's
past its expiration date? Howdoes that relate to food safety?
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (06:41):
You know, that's, again, one of the myth
questions. But I love answeringthat question. Because
expiration dates are, if you goback and look at the dates on
the products now, it actuallysays sell by dates, it doesn't
say expiration dates muchanymore. Because expiration
dates kind of give theperception that this food's gone
(07:01):
bad. Sell by date means for bestquality, or for the best
experience of that food, youneed to consume that food by
that particular date. It doesn'tmean it's gone bad from a safety
perspective; the quality of thefood might have been compromised
(07:22):
or been different now. Now, ifyou're a connoisseur, and you
have a particular brand of acheese you like, and it has to
taste a certain way, you will beable to tell a day or two later
beyond a sell by date that oh,it's not the same. It has no
food safety implications. So,but people do perceive something
(07:45):
tasting bad to mean oh, it'sgone bad meaning maybe there's a
food safety issue. Or, you know,the quality not being good is a
major factor that, that's whyyou see sell by dates on the
product and not an expirationdate.
Jordan Powers (08:01):
So I feel like a lot of us grew up being told
that when you're cooking a hotfood, say a pasta sauce or
something on your stovetop thatyou eventually want to put those
leftovers in the fridge or yourmeal prepping for the week and
want to package that for theweek in the fridge, that you
need to let it sit on thecounter and cool off for a
certain period of time beforeyou then package it and put it
(08:22):
in the fridge. Is that whatwe're supposed to be doing?
Emily Davenport (08:26):
I've been told that as well. And we do that, we
let it sit out on the counterand cool down and then put it in
the fridge. So are we doing itwrong?
Manpreet Singh (08:33):
The reason why that would happen is if you have
cooked something which is hot,and it's in a glass container.
And if you put it in the fridge,the temperature fluctuations can
cause the glass container toactually, you know, break the
glass. And now you have anissue, which is not food safety
related but...
Jordan Powers (08:50):
Safety related.
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (08:51):
A bigger mess to be cleaned up in the
refrigerator. However, if youlook at the industry, what do we
do, we heat up the productreally quick, and we cool it
down really quick. It's hotproduct, which is cooled really
quick. So quick heating andquick cooling is one of the
better ways, or one of the bestways, to make sure that the
product has been cookedcorrectly, cooled down correctly
(09:11):
and it is being maintained safe.
So I have, if I have warm or hotproduct, I might wait for a few
minutes for it to just air outand then I would put it in the
refrigerator. I do not wait forit to get down to an ambient,
lukewarm temperature and then gobecause it might be 30, 40
minutes or it could be an hourdepending on how much you've
(09:32):
made and what the type ofproduct is.
Emily Davenport (09:36):
So what's the risk of letting it sit and cool
down slowly? What are we worriedabout?
Manpreet Singh (09:43):
So, when you cook products or when you cook
foods at the house, there stillcould be certain bacteria which
are a lot more resistant to heatthan your normal cooking
temperatures. Or there arebacteria which can form spores.
I'm getting too technical inthis.
Sound Effect (09:59):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (10:00):
We don't want to get too technical either, but
just wanted to jump in with somedefinitions for you. Vegetative
cells are bacterial cells thatare used for reproduction. And
spores are another type of cellused by bacteria for
reproduction or defense. Theyhave thick cell walls that help
them withstand hightemperatures.
Sound Effect (10:20):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (10:21):
But there are bacteria which form spores which
are heartier than normalvegetative cells. Now those
spores, when they're in warmerenvironments, can start
germinating because they werejust heat shocked with all the
food, that the heat that youprovided to the food. It's a
typical examples are typicalcase of this is around
Thanksgiving with gravy type ofproducts. When you cook the
(10:44):
product and let it sit out, it'swarm, the you shock the spores,
if there were those type ofbacteria in the food, and now
those spores will start togerminate and the bacteria
starts to grow in it. So that'swhere it starts getting to be a
little bit of a food hazard or adangerous situation.
Emily Davenport (11:03):
And how fast can some bacteria multiply?
Manpreet Singh (11:06):
Oh! Given ideal conditions within 20 minutes,
the bacteria double itself.
Sound Effect (11:10):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (11:11):
When Dr. Singh refers to ideal conditions, he
means an environment with warmtemperatures and enough food to
support bacterial growth, likeyour gravy sitting on the
counter on Thanksgiving.
Sound Effect (11:22):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (11:23):
So if there's ideal conditions, and there's
decent number of bacteria inthere, high enough number, you
can imagine that after threehours of sitting out on a
counter, it could be prettyintense.
Jordan Powers (11:39):
That'll just give you the heebie-jeebies.
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (11:40):
I'm not here to scare you guys.
Jordan Powers (11:45):
So I feel like some people though, not looking
at my husband, but looking at myhusband, need to be a little
scared into following thosesafety tips. Now I have one of
those kind of curiosityquestions on the flip side of
that; I love to bake. And a lotof the recipes that I read talk
about bringing things up to roomtemperature before you use them,
you know, bring your buttermilkup to room temperature, bring
(12:07):
your eggs up to roomtemperature. Is there the
reverse risk there of bringing acold food or refrigerated
product to room temperaturebefore using it? Or is there
some kind of food safety netbuilt into that?
Manpreet Singh (12:21):
Oh, no, again, that's a great observation,
Jordan, because if you thinkabout why they're saying that is
not, the main purpose of that isyou want to bring it to a room
temp so that you know when youmix the products, they mix well.
Sometimes there are coldingredients which don't mix
well. However, now if you thinkabout your baking temperatures,
(12:43):
you bake them really hot. Atthat temperature, let's, I mean,
last I checked, there was anoven in our house, which was
running at 350 degrees for 20,30 minutes, that's pretty high
temperature, for a pretty longenough time. So when you bake
something, post baking, thatrisk is fairly low. Or, I would
(13:03):
never say no risk, but I willsay it's fairly low. And in that
scenario, when you're doing,when you're making or baking
products, rather, you can bringthem to ambient temperature and
then you're, you know,ultimately, you're going to bake
it and the temperature is goingto be fairly high. So the risk
is not much.
Jordan Powers (13:22):
Okay. But you're telling me I should avoid that
raw cookie dough or cake batter.
Everyone (13:26):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (13:27):
You know, raw, again, raw cookie dough is a
thing, right? Because until nowpeople, you know, were not
paying attention to it and allof a sudden there were, there
were some outbreaks related toraw cookie dough. We have
certain enterprises in our town,which actually sell cookie
dough, but it is not raw. It isnow pasteurized. So if you ever
(13:47):
go to certain stores and you getcookie dough, you can eat it,
because they say it'spasteurized. However, there are
situations where there's rawcookie dough, which is not
pasteurized. Now, that could bedangerous.
Jordan Powers (14:00):
Noted. I'll do my best to keep my finger out of
that, that baking dish.
Emily Davenport (14:06):
What food safety information do you think
is important for the generalpublic to know?
Manpreet Singh (14:10):
There's no day that goes by without someone
asking me that question. So Ifeel fairly confident in some of
the things that I think aboutare valuable. But that's just my
opinion on things, but I'm sureyou talk to different food
safety professionals, they willhave different preferences and
advice that they give to peoplearound the world. For me, one
(14:32):
thing I always harp on, and it'sa cliche, is washing hands. What
better time than now, right?
Over COVID times, everybody wasdiscussing, wash your hands,
then sanitize. It's nothing newin the food safety world. We
always have preached that. Sowhen this happened, for people
like us, it's not anythingdifferent that we wash our hands
and then sanitize but, you know,it seems as a minor thing, but
(14:56):
washing hands properly goes along way. Cross contamination,
touching raw foods and thentouching cooked foods, or
touching meat products and thentouching produce, there's always
the chance of crosscontamination and people getting
sick because if you think ofproduce, most of it is consumed
raw. So if we are going to touchmeat and then go back and touch
(15:18):
produce without washing hands,there could be chances of people
getting sick from that. Sowashing hands is one that I
really harp on widely. Some ofthe other things I mean, if
you're just, you know, you sinceyou talked about summertime,
cooking foods, not just cookingfoods to say you cook your food
until the juice is dry, becauseI believe in thermometers. So if
(15:41):
you cook a product, and ifyou're going to cook it to an
internal temperature that isdesired of the product, have a
thermometer ready. Now thesecond part becomes using the
thermometer correctly. Sothere's so many layers to this.
But understanding that you needto have the tools to be able to
not only produce but to actuallycook food safely over the
(16:04):
summertime grilling is a classicexample making sure the meat's
cooked properly. The otheraspects could be just when
you're doing your cutting in thehouse, having different set of
cutting boards when you'recutting produce versus cutting
meat or meat products, just sothat you're avoiding any sort of
cross-contact. So these are someof the very common simple topics
(16:27):
or advices I talk about from afood safety perspective. The
other ones, always because it'sso hot outside right now is we
assume that we're going to takea product out of a refrigerator
and keep it on our kitchencounter, and come back two hours
later and still be okay withthat. So I always say keep cold
foods cold and hot foods hot,and eat them the way they're
(16:50):
intended to be. And by that Imean if a hot food is intended
to be eaten hot, don't leave itout to be lukewarm. And there
for 30, 40 minutes and then goback and consume it because
there's a potential for that nowto be a source of contamination
or a source where bacteria couldbe and then ultimately impacting
public health. Let's followthese simple rules.
Jordan Powers (17:15):
You never want to be the person at the party that
makes everybody sick, right?
Everyone (17:18):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (17:18):
Absolutely not.
Yes.
Jordan Powers (17:20):
Not the legacy you want to leave at the summer
barbecue.
Manpreet Singh (17:22):
I hope not.
Everyone (17:23):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (17:24):
You know, speaking of food safety, do you
have any personal stories orprofessional stories of food
safety mishaps that you'veexperienced along your career?
Manpreet Singh (17:33):
Oh, there's plenty. But I think most of
those type of situations happenwhen you travel. If you notice,
you go back and look at like aCDC data or the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,their data and anecdotal
information that you get frompeople. Typically, you will see
people reporting situations orissues from travels. Traveler's
(17:56):
diarrhea is a very commonterminology that people use. So
we were in a country where itwas a tradition to have shrimp
with lime juice and like aceviche type of product. I
usually would not mind it, ifI'm in country, if I know a
(18:17):
place or a restaurant, whichwhich has a good history, and if
I know the sources of that, butwhen you go into like banquet
type of settings, where, youknow, things are happening
behind the scenes, whichmajority of our lives when you
go out and eat, we're basicallyin the hands of the food
preparers. So, we were at abanquet. And of course, the
(18:40):
ceviche-type of product wasbeing served. And I distinctly
remember telling my colleaguesthat I will not be eating my
plate. And they asked me thequestion, why not? And I said, I
just don't feel comfortable withit. Somebody else was like,
well, I'll eat it. It doesn't doanything to me. I've always
eaten these type of products. Isaid yes. But we're also
traveling, and we don't know howlong and where this product has
(19:02):
come from. But you know, peoplelike to enjoy food. So they did.
But early next morning, we had aflight back to Atlanta.
Jordan Powers (19:12):
Oh no.
Manpreet Singh (19:13):
And it is just not a fun ride. If you have
gotten sick and are on a planefor about 10 to 11 hours. And,
and to date, even to this date,they they do come back and call
me and we make jokes about it.
But they always listen nowsaying I think you were right. I
said you think I was right orwas I right? Because you did get
(19:35):
sick.
Everyone (19:37):
[laughter]
Manpreet Singh (19:38):
And so that's one example of where it is. And
another one. You know typicallyit happens in larger settings.
We were out, and this happenedin the U.S., we were at a
tailgate event somewhere and Idon't tend to eat too many
products or foods which aresupposed to be served cold and
(19:59):
when they're sitting out in thesun, because if you think of
classic football season inAugust, September, until mid
October in the southeast, itdoes get pretty warm and humid.
And foods do sit out, and itmight not be as cold. So I try
to avoid certain foods, justbecause, you know, they're
sitting out for that long. Andpeople in those settings were
(20:23):
consuming, you know, just foodlike potato salads, or, you
know, a chicken salad or a, youknow, an egg salad. But they all
have a lot of mayo and othertypes of like, products in them,
which, if they're warm, cancause major public health
(20:43):
issues. So I tend to stay awayfrom that, just because of the
temperatures now. So perfect.
It's a cold winter day, and it'ssitting out there, I would be
okay with that. But that's justsome examples of where I have
seen situations and firsthandseeing that.
Jordan Powers (21:01):
Absolutely. So time before tailgate season to
look up those recipes forneutral temperature foods that
can sit out for long periods oftime.
Manpreet Singh (21:09):
Well, and I'm sorry, yes, not only neutral
temperature food, but the otheridea is, yeah, you can, there's
no, there's nothing stopping usjust making sure we keep it
cold. And, and ensuring, becausewe get so busy in our
entertainment and social eventat that moment that nobody
bothers to go back and check ifthe potato salad is still cold.
(21:30):
Is the ice still there? Or didit all melt away? And so if we
can just be mindful of the typeof foods we're putting on the
table, and you know, if itconstantly check on them, then,
it's always okay to do that.
Emily Davenport (21:44):
OK, I think I'm guilty of not keeping cold food
cold. It's one thing to be likemy hot food has to say hot
because you want it to be hot,but you don't think cold food
needs to be cold. So that's a...
Jordan Powers (21:57):
good reminder.
Emily Davenport (21:58):
Tp keep in mind, I don't want to eat at a
tailgate in August anymore.
[laughter]
Sound Effect (22:06):
[music]
Jordan Powers (22:07):
Can you tell us a little bit about your story? How
did you get to where you aretoday?
Manpreet Singh (22:12):
Absolutely. I think that's a very good
question and an interestingquestion, in my opinion, because
I have been or have done therounds around the land grant
institutions.
Sound Effect (22:22):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (22:23):
A land grant university is an institution in
the United States that providesresearch based programs and
resources for residents withinthe state. There's at least one
land grant institution in everystate and territory of the
United States as well as theDistrict of Columbia. Each
institution receives federalbenefits as set forth by the
(22:43):
Morrill Acts of 1862, 1890 and1994.
Sound Effect (22:48):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (22:49):
I started out as an undergraduate with an ag
science major, and majored infood science and technology in
India, which also was from aland grant institution. From
there, I moved on for myMaster's at Kansas State
University in food science,which again was another land
grant institution in the Midwestand moved on to Iowa State for a
(23:10):
Ph.D. in food science and humannutrition, which again was a
land grant, so had a flavor ofland grant within different
countries and but only in theMidwest region of the country.
Along the lines, as soon as Ifinished my Ph.D., I had the
opportunity and was fortunateenough to get a job as a faculty
member in a food safety andmicrobiology in Auburn
(23:32):
University, which was anotherland grant university in our
Southeastern Conference, spentabout seven years in Auburn, I
started as assistant professor,but when I left Auburn, I was
promoted in tenure to be anassociate professor, was
recruited to go to PurdueUniversity in the food science
department and wasn't working inExtension and research
(23:52):
specifically. I must mentionwhen I was in Auburn, I had a
research and teachingappointment. So I had the flavor
of teaching both these sides ofthe spectrum of the land grant
mission. And then when I movedto Purdue, I was focused a
little bit more on Extension andresearch. So I got the extension
side of the mission as well fromthe land grant institutions. I
(24:12):
worked at Purdue for about fiveyears and, you know, along the
lines as you move along in yourcareer, your personal life also
changes. When we had moved toWest Lafayette, Indiana, it was
just me and my wife. And then wehad a daughter when we were in
Indiana, and then we justthought it was about time that
if we had an opportunity to movecloser to family, and an
(24:35):
opportunity came along in Athensand have been here since 2017,
at UGA and have loved every partof being at Athens and being
closer to family. So that'swhere I am and here I am today.
Jordan Powers (24:46):
It's always important to move near family
and it's always great when anopportunity like you have at UGA
comes along with it.
Emily Davenport (24:54):
What do you wish that the world knew about
the Food Science and Technologydepartment at UGA?
Manpreet Singh (25:00):
The Department of Food Science and Technology
at UGA which is within theCollege of Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences, needs nointroduction to the world. It
has done amazing things over theyears. If you look at it, we're
a department which is spreadacross the Athens and the
Griffin Campus.
Sound Effect (25:15):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (25:15):
CAES offers undergraduate and graduate
programs on three campuses inGeorgia: Athens, Griffin and
Tifton. While you may hear theAthens campus referred to as
"main campus," and it does offerthe highest number of
undergraduate and graduateprograms, the Tifton Campus
celebrated 100 years of serviceand 2019 and excels in research
(25:35):
on a wide range of commodities,including cotton, peanuts,
vegetables and turfgrass, all ofwhich make agriculture the
number one industry in Georgia.
The Griffin Campus, meanwhile,was originally established as
the Georgia Experiment Stationin 1888, and has played an
integral role in the developmentof modern agriculture. The
Griffin Campus is also home tothe UGA Center for Food Safety,
(25:56):
and the Food Product Innovationand Commercialization Center.
Sound Effect (26:01):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (26:03):
And we have tremendous faculty who are world
renowned in the research theydo, anywhere ranging from food
chemistry, to food microbiology,to food engineering, processing.
But some of the things that weare known for is the Center for
Food Safety, which is recognizedworldwide and has built a
reputation. We are in theprocess of actually now building
(26:26):
a brand for the Food ProductInnovation and Commercialization
Center. And that is down on theGriffin Campus. But our faculty
doing the research and winningawards for the research they
have been doing on bothcampuses, along with our
students, I must mention, theyare very motivated. And they do
enjoy the challenge that foodscience presents to them. But
(26:49):
one thing that I will say isthat we produce world class
students from our department whogo on to be leaders in the
industry, whether it's being inthe food industry, whether it's
being in academia or governmentorganizations, they all flourish
in their careers. And that'sbeen a tremendous thing to watch
over the years.
Jordan Powers (27:09):
Absolutely. So you, you talked a little bit
about the students and, andwhere they go in their careers
after leaving the program orcompleting the program; what
types of careers would graduatesbe looking to enter?
Manpreet Singh (27:23):
For students who are typically graduating,
whether undergraduates ormasters or Ph.D.'s, they are in
the industry in the capacitiesof doing product development. If
you look at ideas, like justlet's look at our day, from this
morning, you wake up and ifyou're a person who eats cereal,
someone was there, as a foodscientist, developing the cereal
(27:44):
for convenience of us to consumeit; if you go along the day, and
if you're someone who eatsyogurt, and you're now switching
to a Gogurt, someone came upwith the idea to make it more
convenient. So a food scientistwas involved in that, every
aspect of your day that you'reconsuming of food, whether it's
convenient, whether it's tasty,and yummy, or whatever that
(28:05):
aspect is, a food scientist hasput an effort for that to be
enjoyed. And I should mentionfor it to be safe for every
different demographic of thepopulation to consume. So they
they get jobs in productdevelopment, quality assurance,
food safety, regulatory agenciesand looking at regulatory
policies, the sky is the limitfor the type of jobs they can
(28:27):
have, and they start flourishingin them.
Jordan Powers (28:29):
That's gonna make me look at any food package I
pick up a little bitdifferently, I think and how
many people were involved ingetting it to my hands to eat.
Everyone (28:38):
[laughter]
Emily Davenport (28:39):
Definitely. You mentioned the FoodPIC briefly,
can you tell us more about theFoodPIC and what it is and why
it matters?
Manpreet Singh (28:47):
Yes, the FoodPIC, as I mentioned, the
Food Product Innovation andCommercialization Center, it is
a center down on the GriffinCampus. It actually is a
facility which encouragesentrepreneurs, from the point of
having an idea to develop a foodproduct, to making it market
(29:08):
ready so that they could go andmarket that in the market space.
I'll give you an example. Ifsomeone had an idea of
developing some sort of a dairyproduct, they would come to the
FoodPIC, talk through that wecall it the ideation phase. And
then with the help of technicalassistance that we can provide,
(29:30):
from the FoodPIC through ourFoodPIC director, FoodPIC staff
or faculty who are engaged withFoodPIC activities, they could
then see what are the differentaspects of that dairy product
that need to be taken intoaccount so that they can develop
a stable, safe and market viableproduct. And at the end of the
day, they got to make a livingtoo. So we also help them look
(29:53):
at some economics andcompetition in the market to see
how feasible would it be forthem to get into the market so,
we call it some feasibilitystudies as well. So the way I
look at it, as I say it's fromideation to market ready
products, anything in between iswhat FoodPIC can help with.
Jordan Powers (30:13):
That's an incredible service to have right
here in the state of Georgia.
How do people get involved? Howwould a producer or someone with
one of these ideas get involvedwith the FoodPIC?
Manpreet Singh (30:24):
So first point of contact would be someone who
would reach out, maybe throughour UGA website through our
Extension resources or Extensionagents in the counties, or even
in the region, someone mightsay, okay, if you have something
that you have an idea aboutreach out to Food Science and
Technology, then we make theconnections through Extension,
or through the faculty who aregoing to be involved with that.
(30:46):
The faculty follow up with theseentrepreneurs, or stakeholders,
if you will, and, have adiscussion on what exactly is on
their mind before we getstarted. So as they are reaching
out to us, we're also guidingthem through the process of what
needs to be happening and thenext step, and slowly and
surely, we get to the point ofokay, now you got to work with
(31:08):
our Innovation Gateway. To havean NDA a nondisclosure
agreement.
Sound Effect (31:12):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (31:12):
The Innovation Gateway helps UGA researchers
move their researchbreakthroughs into the
marketplace through licensingand startups. We've added a link
to their website in the shownotes.
Sound Effect (31:22):
[chime]
Manpreet Singh (31:23):
So that way, when these products are being
developed, people who aredeveloping it, want to make sure
that they own the rights andthey want to make sure that they
can have insights to the recipesand search for the product. So
working through these differentpieces is very critical. But we
guide them through that, throughour FoodPIC staff, through our
Extension staff, and ourExtension faculty as well.
Jordan Powers (31:46):
Tell us about some other ways that your
department partners with theindustry.
Manpreet Singh (31:50):
Food science and technology is actually a very
applied field. If you thinkabout it from that perspective,
I just gave you some examples onproduct development or sensory
science where you're tastingproduct to see whether people
will like it; food safety. Sothere's a lot of applied aspects
to food science. So naturallyindustry is a go to partner for
(32:14):
us. We have a lot of alumni inthe industry, we have quite a
bit of our students who comeback to us and seek our
expertise because of them beingfamiliar with our expertise. And
not to mention that we havefaculty who actually travel
around the world, and every oneof them is seeking them,
(32:34):
inviting them to theirconference or to their facility,
because they view them asexperts in their field. So when
that happens, naturally, there'sa collaboration that starts
happening. And so there's a lotof organic discussions with
industry, but eventually they doturn into some sort of project.
(32:55):
The other side is our facultyare very successful in getting
grants. With that what happensis, when they're publishing or
when our Extension faculty aregoing out and doing workshops,
it increases visibility, andslowly if you do a search on
some ideas that somebody wants,if we pop up, then that's
another way of looking at it. Soit just lends itself, the field
(33:16):
itself lends us to havecollaborations and engage with
the industry.
Emily Davenport (33:20):
Can you tell us how the work your department is
doing is making an impactlocally, nationally, and
internationally?
Manpreet Singh (33:28):
Our faculty, our students and other, you know,
researchers who are engaged withlocal research, we have people
who are doing research with thelocal commodity boards in the
state of Georgia, whether it'son pecans or whether it's on you
know, the citrus board. I mean,we did not realize there's a big
pomegranate industry in thestate of Georgia as well. We
(33:49):
have faculty who are engagedwith them to see how they can
work with them to value add ontheir products, because that's
where the money is. If I were togo get a pomegranate, yes, it's
an X amount of dollars. But if Ican transform that pomegranate
into some sort of a dehydratedpowder, which I can now later on
use into a juice, that'samazing. That's value to it.
(34:11):
People pay more money for that.
But the commodity boards like ittoo, because they want to make
sure that there is value inthat. The next part. I mean, if
you if you look at,internationally, I'll give you a
personal example. We justrecently were in Senegal, and we
were awarded a food safetyinnovation lab grant for the
dairy value chain in Senegal. Sowe were out in Senegal in, I
(34:35):
believe mid to late May. Wespent about two weeks there,
myself and Dr. HarshaThippareddi is now the interim
dean for research and he's afaculty member in poultry
science, but he's a co-PI withme. Understanding the dairy
industry all the way from, youknow, the milking to the point
of milk collection,transportation, transforming
(34:57):
that milk into cheese andyogurts and other products to be
available in the market. Andunderstanding what the gaps are
in these continuum, becausethose gaps are key gaps where
food safety has an implicationon public health. And not only
does it help improve publichealth, but it also helps them
(35:17):
in improving their local market,their products, and eventually,
with the hopes of, you know,influencing policy change, we
have a lot of partners inSenegal that we're collaborating
with. And eventually, the goalis to see that they increase
their exports of the dairyproducts that they're producing.
So that's just one example ofhow things are done. Recently,
(35:39):
there was a study abroad programwith a faculty member they took
him to Costa Rica, it's called aChoco Rica program. So
definitely students get to learna little bit about the chocolate
industry as well, and how theproducts are made. So there's
always these different movingparts, we had a faculty member
who was in Italy with theCortona project. So students
were enrolled in that program tounderstand the wine industry in
(36:01):
Italy. So it just is such anamazing field to be in that it
ranges to a broad spectrum. And,you know, people all over the
world eat foods. So it's amazingto have this.
Jordan Powers (36:16):
Okay, wine and chocolate, I feel like I need to
go get my advanced degree infood science and technology now.
That sounds amazing.
Emily Davenport (36:25):
So you mentioned that this is an
applied science with a lot ofopportunities in industry.
What's kept you in academia?
Manpreet Singh (36:32):
So one of the things that I do enjoy by being
in academia is that it's calledthe academic freedom, right. So
if I choose to do research in aspecific area, I have the
freedom to do that. The otherpart of that is recruiting
students, training them, themflourishing through the program
and going out and doing thethings they do in their
professional lives is just anamazing opportunity to view that
(36:55):
growth is such a impactfulgrowth that you can see day in
and day out, which is excitingto see. And that's why I like
the academic side. Yes,industry. Like I said, the food
science and technology is suchan applied field industry is all
over it. But I enjoy theinteraction with students, being
(37:16):
in a campus environment,enjoying the energy of the
campus town, to, to keep megoing and motivated to do what I
do day in, day out.
Jordan Powers (37:26):
So you're you're solving food mysteries from
TikTok, you're traveling toSenegal, you're leading a
department that covers thingslike the FoodPIC and the Center
for Food Safety; what does atypical day look like for you?
Manpreet Singh (37:40):
As you see is all over the place. But if I
were to look at a typical day,when I'm here, it starts off
with definitely, you know,understanding what are the
departmental needs on a day today basis; we are a changing
department, we have quite a fewnew faculty. So right now, if I
look at a typical day, it doesfocus on "what are our next
(38:02):
steps?" How do we remainrelevant? How do we have
discussions on our undergraduateenrollment? We talk about these
every day, day in day out. Howdo we maintain our graduate
student numbers? How can we beon the social media scene? How
can we appeal to the youngergeneration to be a major of
choice? So we continuously lookat hiring different type of
(38:23):
people, that's also a strategy.
But engaging in discussions withstakeholders, and by
stakeholders, I say, you know,our faculty, our students, our
staff, the college, theuniversity, outside
stakeholders, industry partners,how do we continually engage
with them and find collaborativeopportunities? So, and then
meeting with students. That's avery important part, because we
(38:46):
always tend to hear what we'redoing good. But I want to see
how can we improve the thingsthat we're not doing so good.
And that's where, maybe once aweek, we're meeting with a
student and talking about, sowhat are the things which are
not going so good that we canlook at, and then we can improve
on that. Because we want to makesure it's a good experience for
the students too. So I know I'vegone all around the place, but
(39:10):
that's kind of how the day lookslike. So that's a typical day in
my life.
Jordan Powers (39:15):
An honest representation of a typical day.
Manpreet Singh (39:17):
Yes.
Everyone (39:17):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (39:19):
Well, thank you so much for coming in today, we
know that you are really busyand don't want to keep you but
before we let you go, is thereanything else that you would
like our audience to know today?
Manpreet Singh (39:28):
No, I think we've covered quite a bit in
this session. But once again,thank you for giving me this
opportunity to talk to you guysabout it. But more importantly,
even telling our story from foodscience and technology and
showcasing our faculty, ourstudents and staff because they
are all doing amazing things.
They're all very relevant. Andwe hope to continue to stay that
(39:49):
way in the very near future.
Jordan Powers (39:53):
Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming in and
joining us today.
Sound Effect (39:56):
[music]
Emily Davenport (40:02):
Thank you for listening to "Cultivating
Curiosity," a podcast producedby the UGA College of
Agricultural and EnvironmentalSciences. A special thanks to
Mason McClintock for our musicand sound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.
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