Overview

Elizabeth A. Bihn is a Senior Extension Associate in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. She is currently the director of the Produce Safety Alliance and program coordinator for the National Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Program. The main focus of her work is to reduce microbial risks to fresh fruits and vegetables through research and extension programs developed for and in collaboration with growers, farm workers, produce industry personnel, students, teachers, and consumers. Betsy received her B.S. from Ohio State University in zoology, M.S. from the University of Florida in horticulture, and Ph.D. from Cornell University in food science.

Research Focus

Microbial risk reduction in all aspects of fresh fruit and vegetable production particularly worker training and water use.

Outreach and Extension Focus

My extension activities are focused on reducing microbial risks to fresh fruits and vegetables through a comprehensive education and extension program that includes promoting public health through proper hygiene practices. I interact with a broad range of constituents including growers, packers, farm workers, students, secondary school teachers, university collaborators, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets personnel, United States Department of Agriculture personnel, Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition members, Food and Drug Administration personnel, as well as constituents that contact me directly for information including consumers and extension educators. Most of my extension time is devoted to developing and writing educational materials or conducting educational workshops. I conduct educational workshops throughout the year in New York State, across the US, and internationally. Indicators of the success of these endeavors include the demand for materials, informal feedback from constituents, and consistently positive written evaluations of extension workshops. Demand for educational materials regularly exceeds our funding to produce them and evaluations gathered by workshop organizers indicate that workshops I conduct contain useful information that impacts participants understanding and actions. In addition to these outreach activities, I also conduct research and collaborate with other institutions to increase my understanding of the challenges involved in GAPs implementation. All my extension activities are related to food safety with the focus being primarily on produce food safety.

Teaching Focus

Secondary education produce food safety curriculum development and online produce safety course development for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry.

Additional Links

• Good Agricultural Practices Network for Education and Training
• Produce Safety Alliance
• Link to CALS Research and Impact
• Link to Research & Expertise Across Cornell

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

• Jackson, C., Archer, D. L., Goodrich-Schneider, R., Gravani, R. B., Bihn, E. A., & Schneider, K. R. (2007). Determining the effect of good agricultural awareness on implementation: a multi-state survey. Food Protection Trends. 27:684-693.
• Paul, Daughtery, Bihn, E. A., Chapman, D., Norwood, K., & Ferl, R. J. (2001). Transgene expression patterns indicate that space flight affects stress signal perception and transduction in arabidopsis. Plant Physiology. 126:613-621.
• Bihn, E. A., Paul, A. L., Wang, S. W., Erdos, G. W., & Ferl, R. J. (1997). Localization of 14-3-3 proteins in the nuclei of Arabidopsis and maize. The Plant Journal. 12:1439-1445.

Presentations and Activities

• Produce Safety Alliance: A Fresh Perspective on Produce Safety. July 2012. International Association of Food Protection. Providence, RI.
• Effective Good Agricultural Practices Training for Farmers: A Two-day Approach. July 2012. International Association for Food Protection. Providence, RI.
• GAPs Training at University Farms, Orchards, and Gardens. July 2012. International Association for Food Protection. Providence, RI.
• Dissemination Mechanisms; Water, humans, animals, insects, and field sanitation. February 2012. Phytopathological Society. Hyattsville, MD.
• Assessing the Quality of Surface Water Utilized for Fresh Produce Production in New York. August 2011. International Association for Food Protection. Milwaukee, WI.

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