ANKENY, Iowa — On Aug. 19, the Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach held its first-ever Iowa Crop Scouting Competition. High school students from around the state participated in the event, which coupled real-world scouting experience based on integrated pest management principles with community service. The new program is an effort to build awareness of Iowa agriculture through hands-on learning and teamwork.

The day’s events consisted of a written exam, followed by 10 stations where students had to do real-world scouting.

Teams of four students and even one individual took part of the competition. The team from Denison Community School — Calvin Snitker, Tim Riessen, Ryan Reimers and Malachi Schroeder — received first place. The second place team, from Odebolt-Arthur-Battle Creek-Ida Grove (OA-BCIG) Community School, included Cory Riessen, Lee Riessen, Jordan Rohlk and Eli Linman.   

The contest was funded by a grant from the North Central Integrated Pest Management Center, with Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. and the Iowa Soybean Association providing curriculum and competition materials.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four Ohio State University scientists are part of a multi-state $25 million effort to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses caused by viruses.

The five-year U.S. Department of Agriculture grant is the largest single food safety grant awarded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Under the leadership of North Carolina State University, the grant allows the formation of the Food Virology Collaborative involving more than a dozen universities as well as food and health organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, announced the grant Aug. 3 at the annual meeting of the International Assoc. for Food Protection in Milwaukee, Minn. Lee-Ann Jaykus, professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at NC State, is the lead investigator.

“We’ll be involved in this project with some of the very best people in the country,” said Richard Linton, who is one of the Ohio State scientists involved. Linton, currently at Purdue University, starts at Ohio State on Aug. 15 as professor and chair of the Department of Food Science and Technology.

The project focuses on human noroviruses, which cause more than 21 million cases of foodborne illness each year and are the second-leading cause of gastroenteritis in children under 5 years old. More than half of all foodborne disease outbreaks are due to noroviruses, and they are also the second-leading cause of hospitalizations due to foodborne illness.

Noroviruses spread from person to person, through contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces. Molluscan shellfish such as oysters, clams and mussels, fresh produce, and foods that are extensively handled just prior to consumption are at greatest risk for contamination. Symptoms mimic those of salmonella food poisoning, including diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain and fever.

As part of the project, Linton will use $500,000 of the grant to work with scientists at Rutgers University to better understand the routes of transmission of norovirus in retail and food-service settings.

ARLINGTON, Va. — George C. Fahey Jr., Ph.D., professor of animal sciences and nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was recognized for his professional achievements by the Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS). 

The FASS-AFIA New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition award, which is similar to a life-time achievement award, was presented to Fahey during a recent conference of animal-science societies July 10 in New Orleans, La. A committee of FASS members selected Fahey to receive the award.

This is the eighth consecutive year the American Feed Industry Assoc. sponsored the FASS award. The honor was presented to Fahey by Clay Zimmerman, Ph.D. on behalf of AFIA. Dr. Zimmerman is the director of dairy nutrition of Kent Feeds, Muscatine, Iowa, and is the chair of AFIA’s Nutrition Committee. 

The purpose of the New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition award is to stimulate, acknowledge and reward pioneering and innovative research relevant to the nutrition of animals that benefits mankind and the nutritional value of foods from animals. Among the qualities the award recipient must exhibit is an outstanding and innovative contribution to nutrition research concerning animals that benefits mankind and/or the nutritional value of food from animals. 

Dr. Fahey has specialized in companion animal nutrition for UIUC since 1976. He has contributed to the areas of carbohydrate nutrition, with a special interest in the areas of dietary fiber, oligosaccharides, resistant starch and comparative nutrition in animal and human diets. Dr. Fahey’s research has helped the pet industry produce optimal animal food and feed.

Dr. Fahey has impressive list of credentials, including being named a Kraft Foods Human Nutrition Endowed Professor and the 2011 recipient of the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition Innovation Award. Dr. Fahey is a member of the American Society for Nutrition and the Nutritional Sciences Council. He also holds the distinction of “University Scholar,” the highest recognition awarded to University of Illinois faculty and won the Highly Cited Researcher Award from the Institute for Scientific Information. Dr. Fahey received his bachelor’s in biology/chemistry, master’s in agricultural biochemistry and doctorate degree in animal nutrition from West Virginia University, Morgantown.