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About Us

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide food industry companies, the Department of Food Science and Technology, and related institutions with technical and scientific support services through education, research, and product development, with highly skilled personnel, a fully equipped pilot plant, and teaching facilities.

FIC Staff Bios

Valente Alvarez, Director, has 22 years of combined experience in management and new product development in the food industry, as well as in extension, research, and teaching. Valente is responsible for directing, marketing, promotion, and all daily aspects of running the Food Industries Center. He graduated from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, Mexico, with a Bachelor of Biochemical Engineering degree, and from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, with a M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science.

Gary Wenneker, Dairy Pilot Plant Manager, has 14 years of experience in hotel, restaurant, and food services, and 15 years as supervisor of the FIC pilot plant. Gary is responsible for coordinating work in the dairy pilot plant in regards to teaching, research, and processing activities. Additional duties include equipment maintenance, and building and laboratory safety coordinator. Gary received a B.A. from The Ohio State University.

Jayne Sholl, Program Coordinator, coordinates all activities related to the FIC. She conducts marketing activities, coordinates and plans continuing education courses, workshops, conferences, and seminars on campus and other locations as needed. Jayne earned her B.A. degree in International Relations at The Ohio State University, other business and teaching certificates from Capital University, State of Ohio Department of Education and International TEFL Corp.

Melody Leidheiser, Sensory Coordinator, has over 10 years experience in Sensory Evaluation including Discrimination Testing, Consumer Testing, Quality Control Testing, and Descriptive Analysis. Melody is familiar to The Ohio State University where she earned her B.S.  Recently, she completed an  Applied Sensory Science and Consumer Testing Certification at the University of California, Davis.

Our Licenses

The food processing pilot plants have commercial licenses from the Ohio Department of Agriculture for acidified and low acid canned foods that do not contain meat. The licenses are for frozen foods, cannery, bakery, and bottling.

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Created: 2007-03-13, Updated: 2008-07-31