Raad wins Jim Ayres Award

By Jennifer Reynolds
Communication Professional for the Center for Food Safety

Center for Food Safety master’s student Rawane Raad has been named this year’s first place winner of the Jim Ayres Young Investigator Award.

“It means a lot to me to win this award,” Raad said, saying that winning the award felt like an affirmation that her research was well executed.

Her research, done under the instruction of CFS Associate Professor Ynes Ortega, was centered on Cyclospora cayetanensis which is a parasite that infects people through food or water. There is still much that researchers do not know about Cyclospora including its prevalence within the United States and what can be done to control it.

Raad researched methods to detect it during fresh-cut produce processing. By working with industry connections, they set up a small-scale pilot plant that closely mimicked conditions within a food processing facility such as the normal standards for water pH levels. Raad added Cyclospora to the water to observe its behavior and methods of detecting it.

“Cyclospora is resistant to the levels of chlorine that the facilities use. We know that because we’re having outbreaks despite washing produce with these types of chlorinated water, but there had not been a study, at least to my knowledge, that demonstrated its resistance,” she said.

Raad had many people to thank for their support, especially her advisor, Ynes Ortega. “Her support and her belief in me helped me a lot,” Raad said. She also said that her fellow lab students and staff also lent her support saying that even small things such as helping with cleaning made a difference and she appreciated their work.

The award, issued by the Georgia Association for Food Protection, comes with a $1,000 prize and a trip to the fall GAFP meeting where Raad will give a 15-minute presentation on her research.