Page 24 - BusinessWest June 17, 2024

Solving a Sticky Situation
UMass Amherst Food Scientist Wins Mahoney Life Sciences Prize
UMass Amherst food scientist Lynne McLandsborough recently won the 2024 Mahoney Life Sciences Prize for her research that offers a solution to a sticky sanitation and food-safety dilemma hounding
the peanut-butter and chocolate industries.
“I was really surprised and excited,” McLandsborough said of winning
the prize. “I think our research is innovative, and there’s a need in the industry. It was a fun project.”
She is already in talks with Mars, the world’s largest chocolate manu- facturer, and J.M. Smucker, owner of Jif peanut butter, to test her novel ‘dry’ sanitation method in peanut-butter and chocolate pilot plant facili- ties, and she has filed a patent application on the innovation.
One doesn’t have to be a commercial candy bar producer to know how tough it is to clean low-moisture foods like peanut butter and liquid chocolate off utensils, bowls, and kitchen equipment. The sticky mess happens because of the high-fat content of those foods and the chemical reality that water and oil don’t mix.
“Outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with low-moisture foods are a persistent problem,” said McLandsborough, who, in addition to her role as professor, also serves as interim associate vice chancellor for Research and Engagement and interim director of the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment.
Her lab’s discovery holds promise to make sanitizing facilities process- ing low-moisture foods more efficient while improving food safety and reducing bacterial illness outbreaks.
Richard Mahoney, former CEO and chairman of Monsanto, expressed his enthusiasm for the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize and McLandsbor- ough’s breakthrough.
“We are thrilled to champion the innovative research led by UMass researchers. It is crucial to bridge scientific discoveries with industrial
“I think our research is innovative, and there’s a need in the industry.”
The work of Lynne McLandsborough’s lab holds the promise of improving food safety and reducing bacterial illness outbreaks.
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