IAFP Announces 2022 Travel Award Recipients

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Des Moines, Iowa - The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) will present Travel Awards to the following individuals at IAFP 2022, July 31–August 3, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by IAFP and the IAFP Foundation, the Travel Award for Health or Agricultural Department Employees in North America and the Travel Award for Food Safety Professionals in a Country with a Developing Economy will provide funding to enable recipients to travel to and participate in IAFP 2022.

The Travel Award for Health or Agricultural Department Employees in North America will be presented to the following individuals:

Jessica Danzeisen is a Research Scientist in the Laboratory Services Division for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in Saint Paul. Ms. Danzeisen independently performs applied research in microbiological aspects of food safety including planning, review, evaluation, and implementation of emerging technologies and equipment along with method validation of new or revised methodologies. She also supports MDA’s participation in the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) by increasing the department’s capability and capacity to analyze for the presence of threat agents and routine foodborne pathogens in the foods supply.

Jennifer Heller is the sole inspector of the Brown County Health Department in Nashville, Indiana for food establishments within the county. Ms. Heller inspects, advises, and consults with various food establishments and special temporary events such as the local festivals. She maintains a close relationship to her businesses through personal inspection visits, emails, distributing recall notices, consultations, and following up on food complaints­. She
is also the Secretary of the Emergency Management Advisory Council and Vice President of the Local Emergency Planning Committee for Brown County.

Erica Jones is an Agriculture Compliance Specialist in the Retail Food Program with the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) Food Safety Division headquartered in Atlanta. Ms. Jones’ role is to educate the department’s many firm owners and their staff; form and sustain partnerships with other local, state, and federal regulatory/public health agencies; and assure that the public’s food supply is safe, secured, and protected. She is a member of Georgia’s Food and Feed Response Team and serves on the GDA’s Strategic Agriculture Response Team (SART) that responds to GDA-related emergencies. 

The Travel Award for Food Safety Professionals in a Country with a Developing Economy will be presented to the following individuals:

Badroonesha Aumjaud is a lecturer in food science and technology with the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Mauritius in Reduit, where her students include more than 80% of young women enrolled in undergraduate/postgraduate food science and technology courses. She has implemented pedagogical initiatives to promote effectiveness in HACCP teaching to ensure students are properly trained in HACCP principles and that they develop a positive food safety culture to prevent foodborne disease.

Rine Reuben is a researcher in food safety at Anchor University, Lagos in Nigeria. Dr. Reuben is currently studying the roles of microbial interactions, horizontal gene transfer, antagonism (including bacteriocins production and genes expressions), and resource use (metabolomics) in microbiome assembly in cheeses. He also serves as the zonal secretary for the Nigerian Society for Microbiology, north central zone, fostering collaborations between microbiologists in both academia and industries, and serves on several sub-committees of the society, particularly in numerous community development services.

Neetu Taneja is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) in Haryana, India. The major focus of research in Dr. Taneja’s laboratory is to work at the industry-academia interface and address research problems pertinent to the food industry. Her lab has invented and patented technologies for rapid and safe disposal of a broad range of foodborne pathogens and rapid staining of gram-negative pathogens. In addition to her teaching and research responsibilities, she plays a leadership role in coordinating the establishment of the state-of-the-art Centre for Food Nano-Biotechnology for cutting-edge research in food safety.