Cheraine: Ok, I think we're going to get started. I want to welcome everyone to our WiSciFiles live chat. I'm Cheraine Stanford, I'm a senior producer/director at WPSU and the producer for WiSciFiles. And here with my today is Michelle Orner! And Michelle is the quality manager at the Berkey Creamery. Welcome, Michelle! Michelle: Thank you. Cheraine: So, we know that we have on the chat some very special guests. We have the Girl Scout Troop, and I'm going to make sure I get these numbers right, 11064 from Middletown, Pennsylvania. We also have Girl Scout Troop 11448 from Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, and 4-H of Delaware County. And so, we're going to just start as soon as we can! So there's some questions, and Bridget, who's from the Girl Scouts, wants to know, "what is your favorite part of the work?" Michelle: My favorite part of my job is definitely getting to taste the ice cream. Cheraine: And we also had one question that was, "what's your favorite flavor of ice cream?" Michelle: I like anything with peanut butter, but bittersweet mint is definitely a go-to as well. Cheraine: Good. So, another question. Lena wants to know, "what do you like most about working with dairy products?" So other than, you know, just the tasting part, let's tell Lena what else you like about working with dairy. Michelle: I just find dairy very fascinating, so for me, it's a lot of fun to get to work in a field that interests me a lot. Cheraine: Yeah, and I think we also have another question from the Girl Scouts. They're coming in very quickly, so [laughs] so that's good. Kaley wants to know, "when did you start this job as quality manager?" Michelle: I started working here at the Creamery last March, at the end of March. Cheraine: So kind of new, then, to this position. Michelle: Yep. I've been here in this role less than a year. Cheraine: Wow. So actually, can you do a little bit of once you graduated from school, talk about your path a little bit. Michelle: Ok, so I graduated in May of 2011, and my first job right out of college was, I was in the quality assurance career training program, with program manufacturing at the country up in Bakery. And when I finished that program, I became the production manager at their Michigan dairy. And then from there, I took a job as a quality assurance specialist with Giant and Martin's Foods, doing internal food safety inspections. And then following that is when I got the job here at the Creamery. Cheraine: Yeah I think it's good, I always like for people to talk about their career path, because I think, you know, it can go different ways, you can try different things before you end up, you know, ultimately where you are right now. Lindsay from Bellefonte wants to know, "since your job is partially about protecting people from getting sick, do you find it stressful?" That’s a good question. Michelle: Sometimes it definitely could be stressful. I mean, you're always wondering if you're going to end up with a positive result on one of your tests, and then of course, that would be extremely stressful, because then you’d have to end up getting that product back and discarding it. Luckily, we've never had that happen, but that’s still always in the back of your mind that's something that’s a possibility. Cheraine: Maeve from Penn State wants to know, "how did you come across this major with everything that's offered at Penn State? How did you come across food science?" Michelle: So I found food science by, actually by talking to one of my advisors here at Penn State during my very first semester. And at that time, I had an interest in food safety, not necessarily in manufacturing, but I wasn't sure even with an interest in food safety, what major was the best fit for that. And after talking to my advisor, food science was one of the options they gave me, and it seemed like the perfect fit, and I absolutely loved it. Cheraine: That's good. I think that's important, too, talking to other people who maybe know, are more knowledgeable like your advisor. I think that's a really important point. Emily C. says, "after watching the video, would you explain more about the plate testing process that you do to the ice cream?" So you know we showed you - Michelle: Yep. Cheraine: - kind of plating things, can you talk about what you were doing there? Michelle: Sure. So the ice cream gets diluted, and then it gets plated on chloroform plates, and then it also gets plated on aerobic plates. And basically, the plating, once it's plated, it gets incubated, and then the results on the plates are what will help determine if the product is safe or not. Cheraine: And what kind of science is, is that using? Michelle: Microbiology. Cheraine: Good. Delaware County 4-H wants to know, "were you ever a 4-H member, and if so, what projects did you work on?" Michelle: No, I was not a 4-H member. I actually did not know what 4-H was when I was in school. Cheraine: Interesting. And now, lots of people will know [laughing] because I think people will look up and see, wanting to know what is more about 4-H. So, the Girl Scouts in the heart of Pennsylvania, want to know, "does the Creamery take ice cream flavor recommendations?" [laughing] Michelle: You can submit recommendations. We're actually currently working on a couple, looking into a couple new flavors, so definitely we would accept flavors of interest. Cheraine: Good. And do you know the process? How do you even come up with the new flavors? Michelle: I know if you come into the Creamery, there's actually a comments box, and that's typically where people will leave the information, but I would check out the website, and I'm sure that there is a place to send comments and questions on the website as well. Cheraine: Another Girl Scout question. Caitlin wants to know, "what's the most important part of food science to you?" So kind of broadening it a little bit, because obviously you probably studied - Michelle: Yeah. Cheraine: -quite a bit in food science. What were some of the things you enjoyed in food science? Michelle: Microbiology and chemistry are definitely two of the strongest components, I'd say, of food science as a major. Cheraine: And did you, were those subjects that you really enjoyed? Microbiology and chemistry? Michelle: I like all sciences and math in general, so, yes I did enjoy those as well. Cheraine: Yeah, we, we, you know, we spoke with Elena Zavala, and she talked about chemistry being just at the core of any type of science you're going to do. Is that kind of the case, you feel like? Michelle: Yeah. Like I said, chemistry and microbiology were definitely the, the two main, I guess, kind of areas that build food science. Cheraine: Another question from the Girl Scouts: "If you could have another job [laughing] what would you choose?" One other job, what would you choose? Michelle: I think it would actually be interesting to just to be able to even work on a dairy farm, just to see that side of things. I don't know how permanent I'd like that to be, but it would be something else fun to experience. Cheraine: Yes, and I'm sure that the 4-H groups could let you get a taste for that if you wanted to. And I, I wanted to ask you something, because that made me think of it. When we talked, you kind of talked about the importance of internships. Talk about why those were important for you, and you know, just kind of giving advice to students about doing that. Michelle: Having internships is really where you get your hands-on experience, and you get a chance to actually apply some of the book knowledge that you're learning. And also, getting internships in different fields of food science, like you could do internships in food safety or production, quality assurance, maybe product development, and by getting different internships, you can help narrow down what kind of career you actually want to have after you graduate. Cheraine: And what were, what were a couple maybe that you did that were, I don’t know, instrumental for you, figuring out what you wanted to do? Michelle: So, I did an internship with Giant and Martin's Foods in their quality assurance program, which I actually ended up working there after graduation for a little bit, and I also did an internship in a management program. So basically, just getting some basic managerial type skills. Cheraine: Well, that's important, too, in the job that you do, because you're kind of leading a team and making sure - Michelle: Yes. Cheraine: And all that. Oh, so I want to make sure I'm saying this right, Silvana G. wants to know, "were you ever in Future Farmers of America?" Michelle: No, I was not. Cheraine: Michelle, there's just all these people that want you to be a part of it [laughing] so no, Michelle was not a part of that. We also have another question, from the Girl Scouts that says, "what is the worst part of your job?" Or I'll change it to kind of be what's the most difficult, I guess, part of the work, because it's not just tasting ice cream and cheese. Michelle: The most difficult part of my job is really I'd say the more regulatory, client side. So I'm also responsible for developing all of our new food safety plans, which are necessary for our compliance with FSMA, which is Food Safety Modernization Act, which is a new regulation. So that's definitely one of the more time-consuming and stressful parts of my job is making, getting those plans together right now. Cheraine: Good, yeah. That's important. Silvana wants to know, "if you did not take an agricultural pathway, what pathway would you choose?" Michelle: Um... Cheraine: Because in food science, you can do, yeah, lots of things. Michelle: Well, food science in general is an, it’s an Ag major, so I guess the other kind of area going through college that I was looking at was more of the medical field, which, kind of a lot of your core science classes are very similar in those two different fields. But ultimately, food science was just the right fit for me. Cheraine: And do you still feel that way? That it was the right fit? Michelle: Yeah, definitely. Cheraine: Nikki from Detroit wants to know, "is it typical for ice cream producers to have a lab for testing? I would never have guessed that all this testing goes on at an ice cream place." Michelle: Yeah, it is very typical for any manufacturing facility, actually, to have a lab on-site to test their products. Cheraine: Yeah, that's good, I didn't know that, too. And that’s actually part of why I think I wanted to include you in the Women in Science Profiles is that I just don't think people necessarily think about food science, you know, all the time. And I certainly didn't know that it was required all these hard sciences for the work that you do. Michelle: Yep. Cheraine: Delaware County 4-H wants to know, oh yeah, this is a good question, "what kinds of courses did you take as part of the food sciences?" So we know you took some chemistry classes, microbiology, talk to us about some of the other things that are part of the food sciences major. Michelle: So there's also physics classes you have to take. So you take the standard chemistry, core chemistry classes, microbiology classes and physics classes, and core calculus class. And then some of your more specific classes, you have food engineering, you have food chemistry, and you have a dairy class, a plants class, so you do get into some more specific-type classes. Cheraine: Amy from Penn State wants to know, "what are some, some other in-demand jobs in the food science industry?" I don't know if you can speak to that at all. Can you talk about that? Michelle: I would say really the biggest demand right now is roles in production and quality assurance on the manufacturing side. It seems like there's not quite as many positions out there right now for product development, but definitely a need for production supervisors, and things like that. Cheraine: And making, it seems like - Michelle: More hands-on, out on the production floor type positions. Cheraine: Good. Delaware County 4-H wants to know, "do parts of your job involve public health policies and/or public health laws beyond compliance and regulation?" Michelle: So, I mean, we are, we're regulated by the FDA and the state, so not only am I making sure we're making sure we're in compliance with the FDA and FSMA with developing the food safety plans, but also I'm responsible for making sure we're in compliance with our state inspections that we get quarterly. So four times a year, we have an inspector from the Pennsylvania Department of Ag come into our plant as well. Cheraine: Emily C. says, "I just signed up for a science fair at school. What would your advice to me be?" [laughing] So that's a much broader kind of question, but a good question. So you know, I guess in thinking about presenting and those kinds of things. Michelle: If you're coming up with a project for a science fair, I would make sure that the project’s something that interests you, not just something you think would be of interest to other people. If it's something that you have more interest in, when you're doing your presentation on it, you'll feel a lot more comfortable. Cheraine: Yeah, I think that's, that's really great. And a lot of our other Women in Science talked about even that in choosing what you want to do, I mean, you always have to balance, but that, at least finding out what your core interests are is also very important. Michelle: Yes. Cheraine: Katie from Penn State said, "how did growing up near farms shape your interest in food science?" Michelle: That didn't as much shape my interest in food science, but that's what led me to have the stronger interest in dairy, was growing up around dairy farms. Cheraine: And just kind of seeing them? Michelle: Yeah. Cheraine: Yeah. And, one thing I wanted to talk about too, because in the, in the short video we did because of time, we didn't really get to see you on your, outside of work. But talk a little bit about the things that you like to do when you're not in the lab. What are some of the things you do for fun? Michelle: Yeah. So, outside of work, I like to be very active. So I like to play tennis, ski. I like to go to sporting, a lot of sporting events, and travel. I also like to play golf. So I like to stay very active. Cheraine: That's good. And I was joking with Michelle, that that's good, because you taste ice cream all day, [laughing] so that's probably good. Michelle: [laughing] Yes, that is helpful, actually. Cheraine: [laughing] probably a good thing. Emily from Penn State wants to know, "what kind of unexpected things can happen throughout the day in a lab like yours?" So are there things that just kind of pop up that you didn't think about? Michelle: Yeah, so you can have things happen. If the equipment breaks down, and you can't get through, maybe, all the production that you expected to. Making decisions as to what you want to end up doing with leftover milk, and things like that. But there's certainly a lot of different things that come up that you wouldn't expect throughout the day. Cheraine: Yeah, I wouldn't have thought about the equipment thing, but that makes a big, a big difference. We rely on technology a lot too, so I understand that. Oh, Delaware County 4-H wants to know, "did you or do you ever encounter discrimination as a woman in your role in the field?" You talked a little bit about this, but. Michelle: I would say you definitely do, and not just as being a woman, but also as being a younger person in the field. Because a lot of times, you're actually managing people that are younger than you - Cheraine: You mean older than you. Michelle: That are older, yeah, that are older than you. Sorry. So, that's I'd say one of the biggest areas where you see a little bit of difficulty. Cheraine: And you talked about that in the interview, and again, it didn't make it in, but talk about how you have dealt with that over the years, like if that happens, how do you kind of deal with those - Michelle: You just continue to treat everybody the same, even if it's someone you're managing that's younger than you, or older than you. And as long as you're treating everybody equally, eventually, you'll earn the respect of everybody over time. Cheraine: Yeah, and I think you obviously, it's clear, you know what you're doing, and you can be confident in that knowledge, and that probably, you know, translates to people as well. Silvana wants to know, "how often do people visit the Creamery lab, and who visits?" And why, why would they visit? Michelle: So we don't have too many people that visit the Creamery lab on a regular basis. Most recently, we had the food science dairy class, as one of their labs, each student spent time with me in the lab. But other than that, that's not something that people would regularly come in and see. Cheraine: But people do come in and do tours of just the Creamery itself, right? That happens? Michelle: So not anybody can just show up and get a tour. Tours are really limited at this point. It was something that was done in the past, but just from all the newer regulations, trying to make sure that we're limiting the numbers of different people in the food manufacturing facility. They do have a video that you can watch, and there's glass that you can look through and watch some of the processes, but it's not so much actually walking in the plant itself. Cheraine: Yeah, well, that makes perfect sense [laughing] if you're trying to keep things food-safe and all of that. Amy from Penn State wants to know, "why did you choose to go to school at Penn State?" Michelle: Let's see. I ended up coming to Penn State mostly just because it was, I grew up in Pennsylvania, I grew up a big fan of Penn State, so that was really what made the decision for me. Cheraine: Yeah, it seems like, certainly around here, Penn State has a very big impact, and people just like, they've grown up hearing about Penn State, you know - Michelle: Exactly. Cheraine: And all of that. Someone who, I'm not sure who it is, has a question that says, "at what age did you start thinking that you wanted to do this as a career?" Michelle: So. Exactly what I'm doing now is kind of just something you fall into, but having the idea that I wanted to have something to do with food, I guess, in general, probably not until maybe middle school or high school. Cheraine: Yeah, and a lot of the people on this chat are about middle-school, high-school age, so I think that is, you know, once we start thinking about what do we want to do when we grow up. Michelle: I knew it was something that I had an interest of, in, but I wasn't definitely sure that was the path I wanted to go down. Cheraine: I know I keep stressing this, but I do think that’s important, because it seems there's a message sometimes that you have to know exactly what you want to do, and I just know that everyone I've talked to, you might have a general idea, but the path to get there can be different. Michelle: Like I said, I didn't 100% decide on the food science major out of the things I was interested in until my first semester here at Penn State. Cheraine: So Paige wants to know, "what is your favorite part of working, in, just in general, in the food science industry?" I guess, you know, what kind of satisfaction, what kind of things do you get out of it? Michelle: Yeah, I mean, I love food in general, so, I like to be able to be part of, not just food safety, but also, I like food manufacturing in general, too. If you get a chance to see some of the different manufacturing equipment for different types of foods, it's very fascinating how someone was able to come up with all the different equipment. Cheraine: Silvana wants to know [laughing] "is your hair ever a problem in the lab because of how long it is?" Michelle: In the lab, we have to wear hair-nets, so, as long as you can get it all up in the hair-net, you’re fine. Cheraine: Yeah, I'd probably have some problems right now, but yes, we all had to wear hair-nets too, when we were filming [laughing] Amy from Penn State wants to know, "in what ways could people get sick from unsafe dairy?" So yeah, I guess, what is it that you're kind of protecting people from? Michelle: So, you're looking for pathogen bacteria. That's what could end up making someone sick. So some of the most common things you would see in the dairy industry, I'm sure you hear a lot about the different types of Listeria re-calls. So, that's certainly one thing that we're concerned about. And then also in dairies, salmonella would be another common bacteria that we would be concerned with. And then aside from the microbiological side of, you know, food safety, you also have physical contaminants. So you want to make sure you’re not getting any metal pieces in the product, you know, something could come off of equipment or something like that. So you also want to make sure, using metal detectors and things like that, that you don't have any debris or physical contaminants. And then the last part would be the chemical contaminants, so such as allergens, you want to make sure that you're controlling the allergens in a manufacturing facility, so you don’t, say, get peanut butter in something that, that's not listed as an ingredient, because that could certainly make someone extremely sick. And then other things like making sure that any cleaners or sanitizer residue are removed from the equipment. Cheraine: Wow [laughing] that's a lot, and I'm glad that you're there to do that job, so we don't get sick. Silvana wants to know, "if you had grown up in a non-rural area, do you believe that you would still have gone into dairy, or agricultural science?" Michelle: I probably would not have, because I probably wouldn't have known nearly as much about, kind of what goes into the food that you actually eat, so probably wouldn't have ended up in that kind of field. Cheraine: Emily from Penn State wants to know, "what would happen if you taste-tested a product, and it wasn't up to par?" Michelle: So if we would taste a product, and it didn't taste right, we would definitely start by getting more samples to make sure that it didn't just happen to be the one that I had. But if you notice that the whole batch is bad, then you would try to figure out what caused it, but also, you would want to make sure that you did not sell that product. Cheraine: Yeah, that's important to know. I would never have thought to ask these questions, that's why I love doing these chats. So someone has a question: "who have been some of your most important role models or mentors?" You know, along the way, your path. Michelle: I would say probably my biggest role model as far as even getting into the field I was in was my dad. He worked in food safety for the Department of Ag, so, that's really how I even got to know about that as an area to work in. Cheraine: And Delaware County 4-H wants to know, "if the Creamery has any traditional equipment or processes, do they still follow those while staying compliant with the FDA regulations?" Michelle: I wouldn't say that we really have anything that's particularly a unique tradition as far as manufacturing goes. We use pretty standard equipment, it's just on a much smaller scale than a larger manufacturing facility. Cheraine: And I think, you know, I think that people in this area know, but the Penn State Berkey Creamery is a very well-known, nationally, internationally, kind of place. Do people know, you know, once they find out you work here, how do they react or respond? Michelle: I’ve had a lot of people say that they think it's pretty cool I get to work at the Creamery, but mostly just because they love the ice cream here. Cheraine: It's hard not to love it. Michelle: And we do have people that buy ice cream and have it shipped all over, so it is very popular. Cheraine: Jen wants to know, oh, "where do you see yourself in the future?" 10 years from now, where do you see yourself? Michelle: I actually would still like to keep working in dairy into the future. I definitely like it, so whether it's still in quality or ending up working in production again, I definitely still see myself working in dairy. Cheraine: And this is probably going to be our final question - Michelle: Ok. Cheraine: But Silvana wants to know, "do some cows have safer milk against diseases than others?" And maybe you can also talk about where a lot of the milk comes from for the Creamery. Michelle: Ok, so, I haven't actually worked on the farms at all, so as far as that side of things, different cows and their specific milk, I can't answer that, but I can say that, most of the milk that we get here at the Creamery comes from the Penn State dairy barns. And I can tell you, at least from a microbiological standpoint, that we have extremely low counts in the milk that we do receive from the Penn State dairy barns. So I would say from a micro standpoint, a lot of that is going to come from how clean the farm is. Cheraine: Ok, I was wrong. I'm going to squeeze one more question in. Michelle: [laughing] ok. Cheraine: Lindsay from Bellefonte wants to know, "was there ever a point during your studies where you felt discouraged, and if so, how did you overcome it?" Michelle: I would say I don't think, during my time at Penn State in the food science major there wasn't ever a time that I really struggled or felt like, maybe I made the wrong decision. I pretty much felt the whole time that I was enjoying my classes and I was in the right major. Cheraine: Yeah, and I do remember in our interview that you said one thing that you would say is the importance of going to your classes, when you were here, that that was a really important part of - Michelle: Yeah. Cheraine: Yeah, so go to class! So, my last thing, I always just like to give people the opportunity to, you know, share anything, any piece of advice or just words of wisdom to the people who are on the chat, as you know, as parting, parting words. Michelle: I would say when deciding what major you want to go into in school, definitely just stick with whatever you’re most interested in. So don't feel pressured to, you know, do a certain field just because you think you could be more successful or better at something else. Stick with whatever interests you, because ultimately, that's what you're going to end up doing every day. So you want to make sure that you enjoy what you're doing. Cheraine: Great. Well, thank you Michelle! Michelle: You're welcome! Cheraine: And thank you to everyone who joined us on the chat! Special thanks to the Girl Scout Troops 11064 in Middletown, Pennsylvania, the Girl Scout Troop 11448 from Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, and 4-H of Delaware County, and all the other people who joined us. Thank you so much for joining us on the chat! Our next chat is next Thursday, March 16th, at 1 pm Eastern, with Erica Smithwick, who is an Associate Professor in Geography here at Penn State. And that will be our final WiSciFiles chat, so thank you guys so much, and we hope you can join us next time. Good bye! Michelle: Thank you.