S294 - Participant Bio

Luke LaBorde

Title : Assistant Professor & Fruit & Vegetable Processing Extension Specialist

Institution : Dept. Food Sci., Penn State U., University Park, PA 16802

Commodities: apples, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce

Research topics : Quality and safety of shelf stable and minimally processed fruits and vegetables. Effect of minimal processing (package atmosphere, storage temperature, disinfection treatments) on nutritional content (folic acid, carotenoids, ascorbic acid) and other quality characteristics (texture, objective color, sensory) of fruits and vegetables. Evaluation of quality characteristics (nutritional content, phenolics, texture, objective color, sensory) of apple, tomato (high lycopene breeding program), and potato (especially those with unique flesh and skin pigmentation) cultivars for fresh-cut and processing applications. Microbial disinfection treatments for fresh market apples and apple cider and validation of mushroom growing and packing process critical control points. Natural food colors, color improvement of thermally processed green vegetables.

Instrumentation : General equipment available in the Dept. of Food Science include: clinical, micro, high-speed, & ultra centrifuges, ultrasonic cell disrupter, liquid scintil-lation counter, speed-vac concentrator, lyophilizer, particle analyzer, pH meters, fluoroptic temperature probes, data acquisition system, high perform-ance liquid (PDA-HPLC), gas, & thin layer chromatography, atomic absorption, infrared, UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer, ELISA plate reader, miniVIDASTM, electro-phoresis units, phase, light, fluorescent microscopes equipped with a television monitor, & incubators/growth chambers spanning all temperature ranges, humidities, oxygen & carbon dioxide levels. Also available are ozone, electrolyzed oxidizing water, & chlorine dioxide generators & vacuum & gas flush packaging equipment. Additional resources available include: PSU Horticulture Farm & Orchards (180 acres with approximately 80 acres of tillable ground) & the Mushroom Test Development Facility (MTDF) equipped with the normal equipment found in a commercial mushroom growing facility as well as computerized environmental controls.

Phone: 814-863-2298

e-mail: lfl5@psu.ed

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