Science Cafés Focus on Food Safety and Security
Originally posted on the Sigma Xi website
October 26, 2010
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC — How can local food fight obesity? When do you want bacteria in your food? These and other questions will be on the table—on the dinner table in fact—on Thursday, November 11, 2010, at a series of informal science talks at bars and restaurants around the Triangle.
These free events, known as science cafés, will add scientists to the evening crowds at Mitch’s Tavern and Tir Na Nog in Raleigh, Satisfaction Restaurant in Durham and Top of the Hill in Chapel Hill.
Each venue will feature a different expert, including local researchers and a visiting scientist from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. They’ll share their experiences and research to spark a lively discussion on the intriguing issues surrounding food safety and security in North Carolina and around the world.
Details on the presenters and locations of each café are listed below.
This special science café series is sponsored by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society in conjunction with its Annual Meeting and International Research Conference, which this year takes place in Raleigh and features a symposium November 11-13 on Food Safety and Security: Science and Policy.
Additional support for the cafés comes from the Morehead Planetarium, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and the WGBH Educational Foundation.
For additional information, contact Elsa Youngsteadt at scicafe@sigmaxi.org or 919-547-5251.
Bacteria in Your Food: The Helpful and the Harmful
Thursday, November 11, 6:00 p.m.
Speaker: Sophia Kathariou, North Carolina State University
Location: Mitch’s Tavern, 2426 Hillsborough St., Raleigh
Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Safety: Can They Work Together Toward a Common Goal?
Thursday, November 11, 6:45 p.m.
Speaker: Daniel Gustafson, UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Location: Tir Na Nog, 218 S. Blount St., Raleigh
Hunger in the Midst of Plenty: Food Security in North Carolina
Thursday, November 11, 7:00 p.m.
Speakers: Maureen M. Berner, UNC School of Government, and Sharon Paynter, ECU Department of Political Science
Location: Back Bar at Top of the Hill, 100 East Franklin St., Chapel Hill
Farm to Fork: Fighting Obesity With Local Food
Thursday, November 11, 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Alice Ammerman, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Location: Satisfaction Restaurant, 905 W Main St. #37, Durham
About Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
Founded in 1886, Sigma Xi is the international honor society of research scientists and engineers, with more than 500 chapters at colleges and universities, government laboratories and industry research centers. Membership is by invitation, in recognition of research potential or achievement. Over the years, more than 200 Sigma Xi members have received the Nobel Prize. In addition to publishing American Scientist, the non-profit society awards hundreds of grants annually to student researchers and sponsors a variety of programs that support science and engineering.