DR. RUTH PETRAN NAMED 2017 IFSH AWARD RECIPIENT
The Vice President of Food Safety & Public Health at Ecolab Inc., a longtime and loyal member of the Institute, is honored for her outstanding contributions to Food Safety.
(Burr Ridge, IL) September 26, 2017 – The Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), has awarded its prestigious 2017 IFSH DARSH WASAN FOOD SAFETY AWARD to Ruth Petran, Ph.D., Vice President of Food Safety & Public Health at Ecolab Inc. The award was announced by Robert Brackett, Ph.D., IIT Vice President and IFSH Director, at the IFSH Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony at the Chicago Marriot Southwest in Burr Ridge, IL. “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”, says Jason Wan, Ph.D., IFSH Associate Director and coordinator of the IFSH Award nominations. Nominations are evaluated by a selection panel consisting of representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), IIT, and the food industry. “Ruth Petran has done an outstanding job to advance public health throughout her years of work as an expert in food safety microbiology for industry, by her many service activities for professional scientific societies, by her writing, editing, and training activities, and by her participation in national and international food safety advisory groups. As an enthusiastic supporter of the IFSH collaborative research program, she has given practical opinions and technical guidance to the research scientists to help develop impactful projects for the program. Ruth is second to no one in her enthusiasm and support for the research conducted by our scientists” stated Dr. Mary Lou Tortorello, Branch ChiefFood Technology FDA CFSAN DFPST. Following the event, Dr. Petran expressed her thanks to her IFSH colleagues, “I am honored and greatly humbled to receive this award that has been given to many for whom I have great respect in the food safety world. It’s only through collective efforts that we can ensure the identification and practical implementation of valid preventive controls. IFSH continues to play a very unique but ever so key role in encouraging and driving collaboration among experts from academia, the government and industry in our continuing quest to improve public health.” Dr. Petran joins the previous IFSH Award recipients, which includes Jonathan W. DeVries, Ph.D., General Mills (2005), Michael Cirigliano, Ph.D., Unilever (2006), Richard Whiting, Ph.D., U.S. FDA CFSAN (2007), Katherine M.J. Swanson, Ph.D., Ecolab (2008), Paul A. Hall, Ph.D., AIV Microbiology & Food Safety Consultants, LLC (2009), Daniel G. Brown, Hormel Foods (2010), .C. Patrick Dunne, Ph.D., U.S. Army (2011), Will Daniels, Earthbound Farm (2012), Donald L. Zink, Ph.D., FDA CFSAN Institute for Food Safety and Health | 6502 South Archer Road | Bedford Park, IL 60501-1957 | iit.edu/ifsh (2013), Wilfredo Ocasio, Ph.D., the National Food Lab (2014), Bruce Tompkin, Ph.D., (2015), and Kurt Deibel, Ph.D., KraftHentz (2016). Since 2013, the IFSH Award has been named as the Darsh Wasan IFSH Food Safety Award.
Illinois Institute of Technology's (IIT) Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) is a one-of-a-kind applied food research institute that provides stakeholders in government, industry and academia the opportunity to develop and exchange knowledge and expertise to address key issues in food safety, food defense and nutrition. Powered by a singular combination of in-depth food science expertise and state-of-the-art research capabilities, IFSH's collaborative research model helps stakeholders define and design innovative and practical approaches to solving real-world challenges in food industry operations. Located at IIT's Moffett Campus in Bedford Park, IL, IFSH is also home to the FDA CFSAN Division of Food Processing Science and Technology. For more, visit www.iit.edu/ifsh
