How food safety became professor’s driving passion

Her work in food safety has since taken her to Afghanistan, where she worked with government officials to train on how to test for pathogens alongside Haley Oliver, professor of food science, and Paul Ebner, professor of animal sciences. But her biggest accomplishment there, Deering said, was her work to create a food technology department at Herat University. 

“Our first-year students there had a 100 percent job placement rate upon graduation, which never happens in Afghanistan,” she said. “The jobs were mostly related to the food industry in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, and it proved how much this was needed.” 

With the high turnover of the food processing work force in the United States, Deering says work force development is needed to curb the losses it creates and to increase the safety in the foods we eat. 

“I did work with a company in Chicago that imports saffron from Afghanistan, and at the time I got there they were rejecting 50 percent of what they imported due to E. coli contamination,” Deering said. “They needed our help, so we took some of the employees from Afghanistan over to India for training in good agricultural practices. The year following that training, they didn’t reject a single shipment. All of the product was safe to consume.” 

Deering’s goal is to continue creating educational opportunities for facilities and their workers. 

“A grad student and I went to Kentucky recently for a training, and the disconnect is that workers are told what to do and how to do it because of safety protocols, but no one takes the time to tell them why what they are doing is important,” she said. “Once that lightbulb moment of ‘why’ happens, it’s a total game changer for workers.”