MSU research: global scope, local impact

Susan Selke, associate director of the School of Packaging

Phone: (517) 353-4891
E-mail: sselke@msu.edu
Profile: ifas.msu.edu/senior.htm and www.msu.edu/~sselke
Affiliate: Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards
Photo: hi-res jpg

Presentation: "Nanotechnology and Agrifood Packaging"

Abstract: There are a number of current and potential uses of nanotechnology in packaging of agrifood products. Some of these are “tagged” with the term nanotechnology, and others are not, even though under most definitions of nanotechnology, they could be so identified. Most packaging applications of nanotechnology fall under the general headings of improved barrier, or improved communication. Examples of improved barrier range from nanothin coatings of aluminum or of silicon oxide, to incorporation of exfoliated nanoclays in polymeric structures. Examples of use of nanotechnology to improve the package’s ability to communicate range from sensors for temperature exposure, to RFID tagging for track-and-trace capability. Packaging applications of nanotechnology are expected to increase significantly in the future.

John Stone, Institute for Food and Agriculture Standards researcher

Phone: (517) 355-2384
E-mail: jvstone@msu.edu
Profile: www.msu.edu/~ifas/senior.htm
Affiliate: Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards

Stone and Selke will discuss their research at "What is Agrifood Nanotechnology?:Technical, Ethical, Legal and Social Questions," a 180-minute symposium organized by Larry Busch and Paul Thompson, both core faculty members of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards. The symposium is scheduled for Feb. 16, 1:45 to 4:45 p.m.

Presentation: "An Integrated Approach to Public Engagement in Agrifood Nanotechnology"

Abstract: Federal agencies, NGOs, and industry have called for early and comprehensive public engagement and risk communication in agrifood nanotechnology. At issue is the need to simultaneously interact with multiple and diverse publics at the local level and in social settings that are both familiar and comfortable to these potentially affected populations. This issue is addressed through the integration of three distinct models of public engagement into one comprehensive approach that builds upon the USDA’s Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Service. This hybrid model adapts (1) the University of South Carolina NanoCenter’s ‘Citizens School’ approach in (2) training community extension agents in the emerging applications of nanotechnologies in agrifood, and it (3) integrates ethnographic elements of the Risk Perception Mapping methodology to facilitate dialogic risk communication and knowledge transfer among potentially affected populations, extension agents, agricultural policy-makers, and other agrifood nanotechnology stakeholders.