FDSN Seminar Series: Food Safety Needs in the Egg Industry

Join the Department of Food Science and Nutrition for this seminar series event online Thursday, October 20 at 1:00 p.m.  featuring guest speaker Urvi Shah to speak about Food Safety Needs in the Egg Industry.

Abstract:  Contamination of eggs with Salmonella continues to be a crucial public health concern worldwide. An overview of egg safety guidelines, the egg washing debate, and new technologies and processes currently being explored for enhancing egg safety will be discussed. This seminar will also shed light on cold plasma technology, its potential applications, and the developments to scale up this novel technology on a commercial level.

Urvi Shah is a Ph.D. candidate in Food Science at North Carolina State University with a focus on the use of cold plasma technology for egg washing. Food and agricultural courses during her Bachelor’s in Biotechnology Engineering in India inspired her to become an expert in innovative technologies. She successfully demonstrated cold plasma technology for the microbial inactivation of kale leaves for her Master’s research at Drexel University. Prior to starting her Ph.D., she gained experience in egg, French fry, and confectionery industries with leadership roles in quality, regulatory affairs, and research and development. After her doctoral degree, she wants to work in research and development of new products and assist in the commercialization of novel food safety technologies.