IFSH Names Annual Award Winner

BEDFORD PARK, IllThe Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) awarded its 2011 IFSH Award to C. Patrick Dunne, Ph.D., Senior Research Chemist and Senior Advisor, Nutritional Biochemistry and Advanced Processing at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center.
"Dr. Dunne has done an outstanding job for the cause of food safety for our military personnel," said Jonathan W. DeVries, co-chair of the award selection committee. "Further, he has done so by collaborating with key food safety organizations such as NCFST/IFSH to investigate potential improvements in food safety via processing and procedures. He has focused on collaboration to assess new innovations for their efficacy, applicability, practicality, and cost effectiveness as the best means of minimizing food safety risks for those who serve with him in the military." 

IFSH presents its annual award to recognize the achievements of an individual member in the field of food science and technology who has made outstanding contributions to food safety or nutrition across government, academia and industry.

DeVries noted that among his many notable achievements, Dunne was the leader of three very successful academic-industry consortia under the Department of Defense's (DoD) Dual Use Science & Technology (DUST) program for advanced food processing technologies. One of these was a ground-breaking effort at NCFST. In particular, he was a key collaborator in the effort of obtaining a U.S. FDA filing for thermally assisted (mild), high pressure sterilization of low acid foods. The pressure-assisted thermal sterilization (PATS) process not only results in sterile food products, but preserves many of the desirable attributes of the foods that are lost during more vigorous thermal processing (i.e., at higher temperatures or for longer hold times).