NCFIL Employees Honored

Two NC Food Innovation Lab employees have recently garnered the spotlight at NC State University, bringing attention to the lab’s commitment to research, education and safety. 

This spring, Robert Price won the prestigious College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Award for Excellence for Safety, and Chloe Brubaker presented her research related to plant-based proteins at the 2024 Graduate Student Research Symposium. 

Price: Ramping Up Safety at NCFIL

As NCFIL’s safety manager, Price oversees all aspects of food safety and compliance for NCFIL, and he works to improve the food safety culture among all employees.

The Award for Excellence recognizes his commitment to rigorous inspections to comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations, his revamp of the lab’s food safety plan, development of new training modules, and more.

Price was honored during a luncheon ceremony on April 30. The annual Awards for Excellence are the college’s most prestigious honor for nonfaculty employees. It recognizes outstanding accomplishments and contributions above and beyond an employee’s normal job responsibilities.

“People in my position often have to play the role of safety police, and we often aren’t the most popular person in a workplace,” Price says. “It meant a lot to get recognized for all the work I’ve put in to make sure that we have both a safe work environment for the employees and that all the employees are following all food safety guidelines.”

Price also expressed pride in how his coworkers have embraced policies he implemented. 

“I feel like I have been able to create a good culture of both safety and food safety within the facility, and everyone is stepping up and taking active roles in that culture,” he adds.

Brubaker: Improving Pulse Proteins

During the Graduate Research Symposium on April 3, Brubaker shared her research with a poster presentation titled “Turning Challenges Into Value: Utilizing Air Classification to Improve Pulse Proteins.”

The symposium showcases the outstanding quality and diversity of NC State’s graduate-level research and gives students the chance to enhance their communication skills by interacting with those outside of their disciplines.

Brubaker, an NCFIL product developer, has worked with faculty advisers Marvin Moncada, Bill Aimutis and Dana Hanson, all in NC State’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, on her research on high-protein flours made from pulses — protein-rich foods such as beans, peas and lentils.

As Brubaker explains, pulses have received attention from the food industry as interest in plant-based foods has increased, but popular methods of extracting proteins from pulses present challenges. She is examining an alternative method, called air classification, to optimize food formulation. 

“This process leaves the molecules in the flour virtually unchanged, with negligible material loss, due to a lack of exposure to heat and solvents, a feat that is not achieved by popular protein extraction methods,” Brubaker says.

With plant proteins “here to stay,” she adds, “it’s important that food scientists and engineers update traditional extraction methods. Continuous evaluation of existing infrastructure allows us to further improve cost and sustainability by applying innovative ideas to existing resources.”