Kathy Glass earns NCI Laureate Award
Kathy Glass, associate director of the Food Research Institute at UW-Madison, received the National Cheese Institute’s highest honor at the Dairy Forum earlier this year.
The NCI Laureate Award is given to leaders in the cheese industry or academia who have made significant, prolonged contributions to the development and growth of the industry. A panel of industry professionals chooses a winner each year based on the person’s long-term contributions to the industry. Glass is just the fourth member of the UW-Madison community to receive the prestigious award.
In presenting the award to Glass, Ron Dunford of Schreiber Foods Inc. (who serves as NCI Chairman) said, “Her research focuses on improving food safety by eliminating or controlling the growth of pathogenic bacteria. The findings of her work have influenced changes to the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance and are used by product developers and food safety professionals in the cheese and broader dairy industries.”
Glass has been globally recognized for her work on Clostridium botulinum, Escherichia coli 0157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes in relation to dairy and other ready-to-eat food products. She has designed and conducted numerous complex studies to resolve dairy industry problems dealing with a variety of foodborne pathogens.
Her expertise in designing and conducting challenge studies has made her one of the most respected experts in this area in the United States and abroad. Her research on inhibiting C. botulinum in shelf-stable pasteurized process cheese and related products received worldwide recognition. It served as the basis for developing the Better Process Cheese School at the FRI and IDFA.
Read more about Glass’s honor on dairyfoods.com.