Professional Master of Science in Food Safety Degree Program

Outstanding Alumna

Alumni Cristina Rau Worobkevicsh, while enrolled in the Online Master of Science in Food Safety Program, “Became a mother, a United States Citizen, and advanced in professional career.”

Starting the program in January of 2006 and graduating in summer of 2009, Cristina said, “The emotional Commencement Ceremony made me feel really proud, but also made me realize that at the end of this journey, I was able to become a more accomplished professional and person, without sacrificing either family or career.”

Before starting her career as a Food Safety Manager at Wolverine Packing Company, Detroit, MI, Cristina worked exclusively in the food processing field in various food safety and food production positions in Romania and Canada. Starting her current position at the same time with the MS program, she said that “I was able to immediately use and apply the gained knowledge. Therefore, this program complemented my work perfectly, and there is no doubt it contributed to my professional adjustment and bettering”.

“Working as a food safety specialist in the meat industry is a challenging job,” Cristina explains, “but I am very fortunate to work with and for very intelligent and knowledgeable people always exploring new technological advancements and means to produce better, safer and competitive products.”

In that context, Cristina was able to combine a company project with her applied project requirement for the MS program. Her research, “Ozonated water antimicrobial treatment for beef primal and subprimals intended for blade tenderizing or moisture enhancement” has been included as part of Wolverine’s production process. She also mentions that the company is in final steps of this antimicrobial intervention’s validation, which is in collaboration with MSU as well.

Cristina concludes, “I would not deny that the effort and stress to balance family, school and career was at times overwhelming, but it was well worth it in the end.”

The following is a summary of Cristina's research.

Ozonated water antimicrobial treatment for beef primals and subprimals intended for blade tenderizing or moisture enhancement

Given the limited data available in the literature on the specific application of aqueous ozone to decontaminate beef cuts, the objective of this research was aimed at studying the efficacy, using indicator organisms, of ozonated water on reducing microbial counts on beef primal and subprimal cuts, in a steak cut operation. Beef primals and subprimals were subjected to spray treatment with ozonated water 1 ppm dissolved O₃. Enumeration of total aerobic bacteria population revealed mean surface reduction of 2.26 log₁₀ CFU/100 cm² for the antimicrobial intervention. Also, this treatment reduced the total coliforms by 2.31 log₁₀CFU/100 cm² and the Enterobacteriaceae counts by 2.56 log₁₀CFU/100 cm².

These data indicate that ozonated water treatment of beef primal and subprimal cuts, applied before mechanical tenderization or moisture enhancement, can achieve over 99% microbial reduction, which is a significant and effective reduction of the surface microbial contamination on these beef cuts.
Currently, the food industry in general and the meat industry in particular, is in great need of more powerful and convenient antimicrobial interventions, effective against foodborne pathogens. Ozonated water intervention studied in this research shows promises as efficient and environment-friendly method for effectively reducing surface microbial contamination on beef primal and subprimal cuts. This simple and safe FDA/USDA approved technology, even though not widely embraced by the U.S. food processors, can be a valuable tool in producing safer, wholesome food products.