UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Gabriella Pinto provides a great example of what undergraduate research can do for a student. The Penn State food science major, who graduates this month, is headed for a good job armed with a wealth of experience and knowledge from her research, which gives her a leg up on her career.
The Chicago native, who earned a minor in microbiology, took advantage of an opportunity to engage in food safety research with the fine-chocolate industry. In collaboration with Penn State doctoral student Runan Yan, Pinto conducted research on inactivation of Salmonella on cocoa beans.
The research was done in conjunction with Dandelion Chocolate, a craft chocolate maker in San Francisco that has been working with Penn State’s Food Science Department the last few years to help ensure food safety in its operations. Pinto’s research was supported by the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Undergraduate Student Research Grant.