Young people will compete with food safety ozone idea

(Sentinel photo by Joanne Glamm) These students use a skit to present their food safety research on pork. Portraying "pigs" concerned about their health are (from left) Chance Irwin, Claudia Probst, and Renae Zynda who listen as "reporter" Kara Albrecht interviews Morgan Boehme acting as Iowa State University researcher Dr. H. Scott Hurd.

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Claudia Probst, Chance Irwin and Renae Zynda, of Le Mars, are among eight young people who will showcase their research on food contamination Saturday at East High School in Sioux City.

The local students will compete in a regional tournament with other northwest and western Iowa teams by presenting a skit, demonstrating the skills of a robot and answering a challenge.

(Sentinel photo by Joanne Glamm) Ote Albrecht, as Ozone man, and his sidekick , water, portrayed by Sally Probst, explain how ozone and water may be used to prevent pigs from being infected with salmonella in holding pens of slaughter facilities. They're part of an eight-member cast of Le Mars young people that perform a skit to explain a food safety project at a regional competition Saturday.

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FIRST, is a non-profit organization with FIRST representing For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology for 9 to 14 year olds.

Mary Albrecht, of Le Mars, organized a team so her two children could have the experience. The other six team members are children of parents she knew.

Albrecht and Nancy Probst, also of Le Mars, are coaching the group which began meeting in mid-September to prepare for the competition.

Food safety was the general category for the research, Probst said.

"Part of the research project is to pick a food, do research about contamination risks for their food to learn about a real world problem and then come up with a solution," Albrecht said.

Pork was chosen as the food and salmonella was the problem to be researched, Albrecht explained.

The young people's findings are outlined in a brochure, a display and in a presentation to judges at the tournament with the skit performance.

The skit was presented for the parents of the young people, other family members, Iowa State University (ISU) Extension staff and invited guests Wednesday at the Le Mars Convention Center.

In the skit, Claudia Probst, costumed as a pig, explained healthy pigs may become infected with salmonella while waiting in holding pens which have been used by other pigs before slaughter.

Infected pigs increase the possibility that people could get salmonella, if raw meat is not handled properly, the students reported in a brochure on their research.

Another skit actor, Morgan Boehme, portrayed Dr. H. Scott Hurd, an ISU associate professor and veterinarian who has researched pigs and infection.

"We've done several studies here at ISU that indicate healthy pigs in holding pens can be infected in less than two hours," said Boehme, costumed as Hurd.

The research for the project was explained when students answered questions about their project.

They said they used Skype, an Internet video and calling system, to talk to Hurd in Ames without traveling to the university.

4-H Youth Development Specialist Brenda Welch of ISU Extension and Outreach also assisted the team.

"I helped with some logistical things such as who to to contact for research and grant money," Welch said. "I was able to help her (coach Mary Albrecht) and work with how it fit in with Iowa 4-H," Welch said.

The students and coaches made field trips to Sioux-Preme Packing Company, in Sioux Center, to see pigs in holding pens before slaughter.

A visit to Ozone Solutions, in Hull, helped them choose an existing technology to be used in a new way to destroy salmonella, the students said.

Their solution is aqueous ozone, which is ozone bubbles dissolved in water, Ote Albrecht, a student portraying Ozone man, and Sally Probst, costumed as H20 (water) explained in the skit.

Ozone deactivates bacteria by breaking the cell wall, the characters in the skit explained.

The packing industry currently uses ozone to clean equipment, but not in holding pens. The pens are cleaned with warm, high-pressure water.

Also in the skit, Vivian Zynda as manager of a slaughter facility, asks if the solution is expensive.

The students' research indicates the ozone system could be installed for around $16,000-$18,000, with an energy cost of $1.20 per day.

The cast includes Kara Albrecht who interviews the cast of three protesting pigs, Ozone man, a water character, Hurd and the slaughter facility manager.

The one part of their research the students said they'd like answered yet is how effective the aqueous ozone would be, if a slaughter plant used it in holding pens.

LEGOs, small plastic brick toys, are part of the tournament competition because the robot they team programmed moves objects made from LEGOs.

As an example, the students' may use the robot to move LEGOs designated as bacteria to a sink to be destroyed, Nancy Probst said.

In addition to performing in the skit as the ISU researcher, team member Morgan Boehme has worked with team member Ote Albrecht to program the robot.

They downloaded the software for the robot from a website to program the robot for movement, Morgan Boehme said.

"The robot never would go exactly how you wanted it to right away because the slightest bump would mess it up," Boehme explained.

His teammate, Albrecht, said the battery-powered robot has to be programmed with specific commands.

"You can't say 'go forward,'" he said. "You have to say 'rotate your motors.'"

He hopes the robot will complete nine of the 15 missions in the competition, he said.

Mary Albrecht is seeing more than food safety education as a benefit of the listening and brainstorming the young people have done.

"They've learned so much and I think they've developed great friendships," Albrecht said. "It's a great group of kids."