Photos courtesy ASI
St. Louis, Mo. ─ ASI partnered with industry nonprofit Show Me Food Safety to fund its third annual scholarship program recognizing future food safety leaders. Cyril Nsom Ayuk Etaka, a Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., was awarded the $1,000 scholarship.
The Show Me Food Safety Scholarship Award was created by Show Me Food Safety, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to making the food supply chain safer by promoting food safety best practices and rewarding those devoted to food safety. The scholarship program is for students enrolled in a food science or food safety-related degree program who either have improved or intend to improve the food supply chain.
This year’s winner, Etaka, is originally from Cameroon, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Buea. He also holds a master’s degree in standards and quality control of agricultural products from the University of Dschang-Cameroon and a master’s degree in food science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Etaka’s passion for food safety stems from concerns about how food hazards can negatively impact human health. His research focuses on fresh produce safety, specifically investigating the survival of foodborne pathogens on different harvest bag material types and quantifying the transfer of these pathogens to fresh apples under different transfer scenarios. Among many other findings, he’s aiming to determine the best antimicrobial interventions that can be utilized to decontaminate harvest bags in the field during or after harvest operations.
Etaka has written two extension publications on best practices for the safe handling of food items at food pantries. Following his doctorate, he plans to pursue a career in food safety auditing, with an overall goal of eventually running his own private practice in food safety.
“Young and passionate professionals like Mr. Etaka are rare in this industry, and they play an integral role in shaping the future of food safety,” said Tyler Williams, CEO of ASI Food Safety. “We are thrilled to award him with this scholarship and can’t wait to see how his career as an aspiring auditor flourishes.”
ASI and Show Me Food Safety will continue to work together on future projects, including the 2024 scholarship.
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