October 4, 2024
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently announced an investment of $11.6 million in its Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates program. Among the recipients, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences was awarded a $750,000 grant to support 50 undergraduate students in exploring career opportunities in food science and nutritional sciences.
October 1, 2024
Baking in the test kitchens at The Hershey Company. Studying the effects of space weather on satellite communication with NASA. Working on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as a congressional intern. Planning events at the Arboretum. These activities are just a few of the many experiential learning and professional development opportunities that Penn State students gained through internships this summer.
September 19, 2024
First used in the 1940s to monitor for polio, wastewater surveillance proved such a powerful disease monitoring tool that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the National Wastewater Surveillance System to support SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in September of 2020. Now, a team of scientists from Penn State and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have shown that domestic sewage monitoring is useful for a foodborne pathogen as well.
September 17, 2024
Jasna Kovac, associate professor and Lester Earl and Veronica Casida Career Development Professor of Food Safety in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been selected to receive the 2025 Award for Early Career Environmental Research by the American Society for Microbiology.
September 9, 2024
Penn State’s Berkey Creamery has nabbed top honors in the 2024 Centre County Favorites, a competition celebrating the places, restaurants and local businesses that central Pennsylvania residents love.
August 22, 2024
Cocoa may be the dark horse in the race against obesity, according to researchers at Penn State. Nearly one in three adults are overweight and more than two in five have obesity in the U.S., both conditions that come with inflammation-related health concerns. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a research team, led by Joshua Lambert, professor of food science in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, a three-year, $650,000 grant to characterize the sex-specific beneficial effects of cocoa against obesity-related inflammation and fatty liver disease.
August 19, 2024
Ten Penn State students, including nine associated with the College of Agricultural Sciences, have been awarded predoctoral fellowships by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, securing over $1.4 million in total funding.
July 30, 2024
Snacks provide, on average, about one-fourth of most people’s daily calories. With nearly one in three adults in the United States overweight and more than two in five with obesity, according to National Institutes of Health, researchers in the Penn State Sensory Evaluation Center are investigating how Americans can snack smarter.
July 19, 2024
John Hayes, professor of food science and director of the Sensory Evaluation Center in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has been appointed to the external scientific advisory board of the newly established National Smell and Taste Center at the National Institutes of Health.
July 10, 2024
In May, 21 Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences students, mostly undergraduates, embarked on a unique learning journey to Italy, studying grape growing, vinification and wine marketing.
June 13, 2024
The Penn State Dairy Products Evaluation Team recently competed in the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest in Milwaukee, placing high in several categories.
June 10, 2024
Certain strains of bacteria can withstand heat treatments such as pasteurization of milk and possess the potential to induce foodborne illness. To help minimize and predict the magnitude of this risk, a team led by Penn State researchers developed a model that can guide processors to improve food safety.
May 30, 2024
Edward Dudley, professor of food science and director of the E. coli Reference Center in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, has been awarded the 2023 J. Roger Porter Award by the United States Culture Collection Network in recognition of his outstanding leadership to support novel life science discoveries.
May 15, 2024
Inspired by the students who helped her when she was new at Penn State, Benelli Risser is paying it forward by participating in the Agricultural Advocates program, where she can apply her schoolwork and passion to help others.
April 29, 2024
As part of our regular "We Are!" feature, we recognize 16 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.
April 29, 2024
For most people, biting into a lemon would leave them puckered up and desperate to lose that sour flavor, but a new study by Penn State researchers revealed that roughly one in eight adults like intensely sour sensations. The cross-cultural study, recently published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, demonstrated there is a subset of “sour likers” who enjoy exceptionally sour foods.
April 8, 2024
During its annual meeting on April 3, the Penn State chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the agricultural honor society, honored faculty and students from the College of Agricultural Sciences.
April 5, 2024
The size of an individual snack piece not only influences how fast a person eats it, but also how much of it they eat, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. With nearly a quarter of daily calorie intake in the United States coming from snacks, these findings may have implications for helping people better understand how eating behavior impacts calorie and sodium intake.
March 11, 2024
Eleven graduate students have been selected for the final round of the inaugural Penn State Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The final in-person round will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 23, both live-streamed online and in person at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center. The event is free and open to the public, and advance registration is required.
March 7, 2024
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has recognized seven faculty members for outstanding teaching in 2023.
February 22, 2024
Kathleen Keller, professor of nutritional sciences and food science at Penn State, will deliver the 2024 Pattishall Research Lecture on March 20. Her lecture will discuss brain and behavioral factors that drive what, why and how children eat, and how these eating behaviors predict the development of childhood obesity.
February 12, 2024
The secret to making delicious chocolate with less added sugar is oat flour, according to a new study by Penn State researchers. In a blind taste test, recently published in the Journal of Food Science, 25% reduced-sugar chocolates made with oat flour were rated equally, and in some cases preferred, to regular chocolate. The findings provide a new option for decreasing chocolate’s sugar content while maintaining its texture and flavor.
January 31, 2024
Spicy food lovers know that milk can ease the oral burn, but why? Some believe that fat is the soother, with whole cow’s milk reducing the bite more than low-fat cow’s milk or plant milks. A new study conducted by Penn State food scientists, however, suggests that protein plays a role in cooling the heat sensation, too.
January 24, 2024
An estimated 1,600 people in the U.S. contract a serious infection from Listeria bacteria in food each year and, of those individuals, about 260 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Penn State researchers may now better understand how the bacteria, called Listeria monocytogenes, survive and persist in fruit-packing plants by evading and surviving sanitizers.
January 16, 2024
A team comprised of faculty from five departments in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Biology in the Eberly College of Science, funded by a $262,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has created a novel program to train doctoral degree students to conduct interdisciplinary research on the relationship between soils, plants and consumers.
November 21, 2023
People with celiac disease, or intolerance to dietary gluten, may soon have more food options, thanks to an unlikely source: sourdough bread. Sourdough contains less gluten than other breads, making it more tolerable for people with gluten sensitivities. Now, Penn State and Colorado State University researchers are studying whether bacteria in the yeast starter needed to make sourdough bread might help reduce gluten in other bread products.
November 21, 2023
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences lauded outstanding accomplishments in research during the 2023 Research Awards Ceremony, held Nov. 1 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus.
November 15, 2023
Hosting your first Thanksgiving gathering can be a challenge, whether it is for a party of four or 20. Planning and preparation are key, and as part of that, first-time cooks should be sure to incorporate good food safety practices, according to a food safety expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
November 3, 2023
The Food Science Club is a student-based group in the College of Agricultural Sciences that offers opportunities for students to advance their academic and professional careers.
October 16, 2023
A collaboration among scientists from Penn State and the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education is aimed at developing agroforestry systems for Belize and Central America to support sustainable development while conserving the rainforest. As part of the initiative, three teams were awarded seed grants to pursue research on agricultural and ecological sustainability, preservation of tropical rainforest ecosystems and sustainable development in Belize.
