This is FAPC.

• Impacts and Highlights

  FAPC continued to deliver technical assistance, education and training, product development and business growth support for the food and value-added agricultural industries in Oklahoma in 2017. It did so with an effective outreach program to food and agribusinesses in 67 communities and 41 counties across Oklahoma.

   

  FAPC serves as a catalyst for Oklahoma businesses, and in 2017, FAPC assisted large, medium, small and entrepreneurial businesses having an impact of $50 million in sales.

   

  The year was busy and FAPC successfully contributed to the economic well-being of the food and agribusiness industries of Oklahoma in 2017.

• Year in Review
  • Client Projects - 119
  • Research Articles and Activities - 93
  • Patent Actions - 3
  • Education and Training Activities - 68
  • Education and Training Attendees - 1,415
  • Tours - 138
  • Visitors - 1,244
  • Process Authority Letters Issued - 92
  • Nutrition Label Sets Issued - 53
  • Granted Research Funding - $2 million
  • Food Safety Client Assistance - 84
  • Livestock Harvested and Processed - 648
  • Media & Communications Activities - 298
• Donors
  • Dani Bellmer
  • BlendTech
  • Tim Bowser
  • Jim Brooks
  • Terra Brown
  • Cake Crazy LLC
  • Clements Foods
  • Guadalupe Davila-El Rassi
  • deVine Water
  • Nurhan Dunford
  • Carol Dvorak
  • Roy Escoubas
  • Field's Pies
  • Kyle Flynn
  • Fresh Creative Foods
  • Andrea Graves
  • John Griffin
  • Mandy Gross
  • Head Country Food Products Inc.
  • Rodney Holcomb
  • Joyce Hufford
  • Integrity Biologics
  • Divya Jaroni
  • Erin Johnson
  • La Tanja Johnson
  • Sheary Johnson
  • Virgil Jurgensmeyer
  • Pal Kalyanaraman
  • Kize Concepts
  • Angie Lathrop
  • Log10 LLC
  • John P. Lopez
  • Christie McComas
  • William McGlynn
  • David McLaughlin
  • Jake & Reneé Nelson
  • Nu-Tek Food Science LLC
  • Oklahoma Beef Council
  • Oklahoma Pork Council
  • Poultry Federation
  • Ralph's Packing Co.
  • Patricia Rayas-Duarte
  • Rhino Pretzels
  • Shawnee Milling Company
  • Shayma Al Sharqi
  • Karen Smith
  • Spotted Cow Packaging LLC
  • Sprouts
  • Stillwater Centennial Rotary Club
  • Stillwater Chamber of Commerce
  • Towhead Salsa
  • Unitherm Food Systems
  • US Roasters Corp
  • Value Added Products
  • Chuck and Susan Willoughby
  • Jason Young

Featured Projects

• Financial analysis tools for building and equipping commercial kitchens

  FAPC provided agricultural producers and food business entrepreneurs with tools to assess the technological and financial requirements for building and operating a licensed commercial kitchen.

   

  The driving demand for local foods and an increase in the number of farmers markets has generated interest in locally processed foods. These may be food products using leftover farmers market offerings, lower-grade or cull fruits and vegetables from farms, or simply to commercialize a family-favorite recipe. FAPC developed two financial analysis tools to assist growers and entrepreneurs assess the viability of constructing and equipping a commercial kitchen. One tool was designed specifically for agricultural producers who would like to add an on-farm commercial kitchen to process their agricultural commodities for sale on-farm or at farmers markets. The other tool was designed for stand-alone, off-farm commercial kitchens, such as incubator kitchens, food entrepreneurship efforts or even agricultural producers wanting to collectively process their commodities at an off- farm site. Both of these templates include basic estimates of equipment and facilities options that can be modified by users and areas where users can calculate production costs for each product. Both templates also include imbedded user guides. These templates are available as downloadable spreadsheets from FAPC’s website.

   

  Rodney Holcomb, Agribusiness Economist

• Why grass-fed?

  Increased public awareness of the nutritional and health aspects of food focuses the attention on food higher in ω-3 fatty acids. Research suggests grass feeding is an option to exploit the diet of cattle to modify food fatty acid spectrum in a positive way. As a result, FAPC evaluated if grass-fed offers an opportunity to produce healthier beef.

   

  FAPC’s Analytical Services, along with OSU’s Department of Animal Science, evaluated the fatty acid composition of raw and cooked ground beef from animals raised either on pasture or on grain. Project results found grass-fed animals provided leaner meat, containing between 22-37 percent less fat than grain-fed animals.

   

  Beef of grass-fed animals was enriched with ω-3 fatty acid; the level of which was increased more than 70 percent. This increase influences the ratio of ω-6/ω-3, a consideration as criteria for healthy food. The ratio of ω-6/ω-3 was improved from 4.36:1 to 2.28:1, which was far below the recommended limit of 4:1. The amounts of conjugated linoleic and vaccenic acids, also considered as health beneficial fatty acids, followed the trend observed for the ω-3 fatty acids. The distinguished differences found in raw beef between conventionally and grass-raised animals also were observed in cooked beef, which suggest analysis of raw meat may be useful to predict the quality consumed.

   

  The results demonstrate the grass-fed animals provide a leaner beef with higher amounts of healthful parameters, which are more compatible with current human dietary recommendations.

   

  Guadalupe Davila-El Rassi, Analytical Chemist

• Assisting Simple Simon's Pizza with nutrition labels

  FAPC assisted Simple Simon's Pizza restaurant chain to comply with the Food and Drug Administration’s food labeling regulations by generating nutrition labels including calorie counts for more than 40 menu items and providing educational labeling assistance to its franchisees.

   

  The FDA recently launched a new regulation, which requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and offering for sale substantially the same menu items to provide calorie and other nutrition information for standard menu items. Simple Simon's Pizza, a Tulsa-based company, has 170 units in nine states. FAPC worked with Simple Simon's to generate nutrition information and calorie counts for dozens of standard menu items needed to comply with this new regulation. In addition, several FAPC marketing specialists attended and assisted franchise store owners with questions and concerns about the regulation in their stores at their annual franchise meeting in April 2017. Those affected by the labeling rule have until May 2018 to comply.

   

  Erin Johnson & Andrea Graves, Business Planning & Marketing

• Salt (sodium chloride) reduction and salt substitution in baking products (bread and bun)

  Sodium is an essential nutrient for the human body. It is widely consumed as sodium chloride or table salt in processed foods. It has been reported that high daily salt intake in the human diet results in hypertension as well as numerous cardio- vascular diseases and other health problems. This is a serious strain on health systems and has a negative impact on society.

   

  Sodium is found in a variety of natural (lesser extent) as well as processed foods (70 to 75 percent of daily intake) such as bread, crackers and other foods. Thirteen percent of daily sodium intake comes from bread and bakery products. Salt plays an important role in bread formulation. It also has significant impact on gluten development, thereby making the dough less sticky and easier to handle.

   

  FAPC is working to reduce the sodium intake by salt substitution in bread and buns by evaluating the viscoelasticity properties of dough and gluten, as well as texture and sensory properties of the final products. The results show that up to 33 percent of sodium chloride can be replaced by potassium salt bases and do not cause significant differences in technological processing, texture properties and sensory attributes of final products.

   

  Patricia Rayas, Cereal Chemist

• Mobile app focuses on food safety

  FAPC launched a new mobile app that provides food safety information at users’ fingertips. The FAPC Connect App, available for download on both the App Store and Google Play, offers food safety and other food-related information on-the-go.

   

  The app allows users to select topics of interest and get notified when new content is added; access articles, videos and training by FAPC topics and experts; and ask experts to get answers on various food-processing topics. Donations from J-M Farms, Dvorak Farms, Unitherm Food Systems, Lopez Foods, Griffin Foods, Ralph’s Packing Co., deVine Water Co., Shawnee Milling Co. and Clements Food Co. helped support the creation of the mobile app.

   

  The launch of the app coincided with FAPC’s 20-year anniversary, celebrated throughout 2017. FAPC is continually searching for new and improved ways to distribute information to help the food and agricultural industries and consumers in general. The mobile app provides another avenue for the center to reach more people.

   

  Mandy Gross, Communications Services Manager

• Commercialization of a mini, cloud-enabled revelation roaster

  FAPC is working with US Roaster Corp to establish a high-volume manufacturing line for the mini, cloud-enabled Revelation roaster. With FAPC’s assistance, US Roaster Corp received a grant from the Oklahoma Applied Research Support Program within the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology to improve the low-cost mini roaster.

   

  This project has provided a new high-tech design for US Roaster Corp and manufacturing jobs in Oklahoma, new source of substantial economic impact for US Roaster Corp and Oklahoma, internships and assistantships for OSU undergraduate and graduate students and fabulous tasting coffee brewed from beans roasted by an intelligent machine using green technology.

   

  Tim Bowser, Food Engineer

• In-plant microbial validation of a commercial sous vide process using Listeria innocua and Clostridium sporogenes

  FAPC collaborated with Unitherm Food Systems in Bristow, Oklahoma, and Wayne Farms in Decatur, Alabama, to demonstrate if the Unitherm Food Systems commercial process was sufficient to inactivate Listeria and prevent spore germination from Clostridium spp on a combination gas grill oven and submersed water pasteurizing sous vide process for chicken breasts.

   

  This project helped to solidify the sale of an important product line by Unitherm Food Systems and demonstrate the company has effective food processing equipment.

   

  Peter Muriana, Food Microbiologist

• Reformulating an Italian salad dressing to include bacon pieces

  FAPC assisted an Oklahoma food company in reformulating its Italian salad dressing so it could contain pieces of real bacon that would not become soft and change color or flavor during its shelf life.

   

  By the attempting to use actual pieces of bacon in salad dressing, the client hoped to extend the line of products by introducing a new flavor of salad dressing. Unfortunately, the bacon pieces changed color and texture over time; therefore, it was determined it would be more feasible for the client to use flavoring to achieve the desired type of salad dressing. This would allow the client to manufacture a more cost-effective product that also could be manufactured more consistently.

   

  Darren Scott, Sensory Specialist

• How sodium acid sulfate, an emerging antimicrobial, kills pathogens

  Sodium acid sulfate (SAS), is listed as Generally Recognized as Safe by the Food and Drug Administration and a “safer choice” antimicrobial by the Environmental Protection Agency for its safety to human health and the environment. Currently, SAS is widely used as a processing aid including leavening cake mixes and as an acidulant. SAS, in recent years, also gained recognition as an antimicrobial agent for reasons such as low cost, buffering capacity to maintain low pH and capability to inactivate pathogens in the presence of high organic loads. SAS has been effectively used to reduce pathogens from various produce and other food matrices, but there is not much information available on how exactly SAS kills microorganisms.

   

  The purpose of the study is to understand the antimicrobial mode of action of SAS. Effects of SAS on bacterial cell integrity, DNA, proteins and leakage of ions from cells are currently being studied to determine the mode of action. The findings of this project will not only shed light on how SAS kills pathogens but also help us identify effective combinations of antimicrobials, which have an additive effect on inactivating microbes from complex food matrices.

   

  Ravi Jadeja, Food Safety Specialist

• Pepper relish thermal process development

  FAPC assisted an Oklahoma company to develop a thermal process to successfully preserve a canned pepper relish product.

   

  The client was having problems successfully manufacturing a pepper relish product using a hot fill/hold canning process. Even though they were following standard process recommendations for fill temperature and hold time, they were seeing about 5 percent of the jars go bad within two months of manufacture. FAPC specialists visited the manufacturing facility and identified the problem using an infrared thermometer: the jars were cooling off too quickly between the time the product was filled into the jars and the caps were sealed. This was due to the use of relatively small jars for this product, which did not hold heat as well as the larger jars used for other products, in combination with excess ventilation air flow across the filling line. In consultation with the client, a new and improved process was put in place, which the jars were filled at a slightly higher temperature and the filling line was insulated from air drafts between filling and sealing. With these improvements in place, the manufacturer was able to reduce the product loss due to spoilage to negligible levels.

   

  William McGlynn, Horticultural Processing Products Specialist

• Processing bacon for an Oklahoma company

   FAPC helped facilitate an opportunity for Chef’s Requested Foods of Oklahoma City to produce a market-ready, partially-cooked bacon for a retail application, utilizing specialized equipment found only at the center.

   

  FAPC operates a fully-inspected federal meat-processing facility, which is equipped, in part, with in-kind gifts, often from clientele the center serves. A common activity which can be accomplished by FAPC is to lend assistance to Oklahoma-based and other food and agricultural processing companies.

   

  In this project, the client was positioned to deliver product to a customer but faced a unique challenge with sourcing partially-cooked bacon. FAPC’s facilities and efforts allowed for the production and delivery of this bacon to the client. The special attribute about this work is the bacon was cooked in an oven gifted to FAPC by Unitherm Food Systems in Bristow, Oklahoma. The unique characteristics of this oven allowed for the rapid production of the bacon, while meeting the end-product specifications necessary to satisfy Chef’s Requested and its customer.

   

  Jake Nelson, Meat Processing Specialist

• Formulating bulk mixes for ODOC

  FAPC’s milling and baking specialist began assisting the Oklahoma Department of Correction Agri-Services in developing bulk, add-water-only mixes for cakes, biscuits and pancakes. Currently, ODOC Agri-Services purchases cake and biscuit mixes for usage. The goal of the project is to help the ODOC Agri-Services potentially save money by mixing and bagging its own bakery mixes for distribution to customers. In fall 2017, FAPC began developing recipes. The current focus is to ensure mixes are uncomplicated and function easily into other similar products. Ideas are being developed for ways to ensure the prison systems can guarantee a consistent serving size.

   

  Renee Nelson, Milling and Baking Specialist

• Process optimization for recovery of oil bodies as natural emulsifiers

  FAPC is working on the optimization of a sustainable production system that would maximize oil body and protein recovery from various plant sources and formulate them as high value organic, gluten free and non-allergenic cosmetics and food products that are produced locally using environmentally benign processes.

   

  Oil bodies form physically and oxidatively stable natural oil-in-water emulsions. Contrary to the emulsions commonly used in industry today, oxidative stability of oil body containing emulsifiers can be further improved after short thermal treatment. Some of the potential food applications of oil bodies are mayonnaise, salad dressings, creams, imitation milk and flavor carriers. They also are used in cosmetics and other emulsion applications. Wheat and corn germ, rice bran and sunflower seeds are used for oil body and protein recovery.

   

  The processes and products developed and optimized in this study could facilitate establishment of a niche local production system that would add value to underutilized and/or low-value plant material and stimulate economic growth in the state.

   

  Nurhan Dunford, Oil/Oilseed Chemist

• Bacteriophages isolated from cattle environments and their enzymes against E. coli biofilms

  FAPC is working to evaluate biofilm inhibiting activity of depolymerase enzymes of E. coli-specific phages isolated from beef cattle operations.

   

  Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major group of foodborne pathogens that can produce strong biofilms on foods and food-contact surfaces. These biofilms can be difficult to remove using conventional sanitizers but could be disrupted using bacteriophages, targeting specific bacteria. These phages produce depolymerase enzymes to degrade STEC biofilms, allowing the phage to kill the host bacterium. Use of these enzymes could greatly benefit the food industry in reducing the problem of bacterial biofilms.

   

  Divya Jaroni, Food Microbiologist

• Three-layer particleboard manufactured from eastern redcedar using green binder

  FAPC is evaluating properties of particleboard panels made from eastern redcedar using modified starch as green binder. This project addresses manufacturing of three-layer particleboard panel from eastern redcedar, which is underutilized species by using green binder to enhance its properties. Initial data on such product can be developed so underutilized eastern redcedar fiber can be considered as raw material to manufacture value-added panels without any formaldehyde emission.

   

  Salim Hiziroglu, Wood Products Specialist