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Facebook!The School of Nutrition and Food Sciences aims for excellence with comprehensive, integrated, and 21st century education, scholarship, and outreach. Food science professionals train students in the quality, processing, and safety of foods for the multibillion dollar food industry. Nutrition professionals provide training in nutrition science, community nutrition, and clinical nutrition with a focus on improving health and well-being of all citizens and populations.
Scholarly and educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate level integrate the basic and applied sciences with outreach.
Our Mission
The mission of the SNFS is to prepare future professionals and support the community through discovery, didactic and experiential teaching and learning, and the development of services and products that improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities in a complex and changing society, and to assist local, national and global food industries.
Position Announcement
Director of the School of Nutrition
and Food Sciences
Overview: The Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and LSU College of Agriculture seeks outstanding applicants for the Director of the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences.
The nationally and internationally recognized School seeks a dynamic leader with a clear vision for the future and an aptitude for cultivating a shared vision among teams. The School Director is an administrative position responsible for developing and implementing a strategic vision for the School, in alignment with priorities of the LSU AgCenter, LSU College of Agriculture, and LSU System. The Director will lead a diverse group of talented, multidisciplinary faculty and staff in fulfilling the research, teaching, and extension missions of a Research I, land-grant university. The School Director is a tenured 12-month fiscal year appointment with joint responsibilities between the LSU Agricultural Center (AgCenter) and the LSU A&M College of Agriculture.
Application information link: Director and Professor (School of Nutrition and Food Sciences) - East Baton Rouge Parish - R00065126
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In the News
LSU AgCenter, College of Agriculture announce award winners at annual conference
[12/13/2022] Congratulations to SNFS' own Dr. Subramaniam Sathivel who was awqarded the Doyle Chambers Research Award. Sathivel is a professor in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences on the Baton Rouge campus. Much of his work has centered on improving the quality and extending the shelf life of frozen foods. His findings have been adopted by food industries on the local and national levels.
Because of Louisiana’s renowned seafood industry, Sathivel has focused on enhancing the packaging of seafood products. He developed a system for inactivating foodborne pathogens in a frozen packaging system for oysters.
Sathivel has worked on a probiotics delivery system aimed at helping prevent infant mortality in developing countries. He is responsible for 95 peer-reviewed publications and has secured more than $7 million in external grant funding.
The Doyle Chambers Research Award was established through the LSU Foundation as an award in honor of Vice Chancellor and Director Emeritus Chambers. This cash award is made annually to the scientist who, during his/her career at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station has made the most meritorious contributions to agriculture. The recipient is selected based on career contributions to agriculture as documented by the nomination. Contributions which highlight the mission-oriented programs of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station are given strong consideration.
Other awardees for this year are highlighted in the AgCenter.com article
LSU AgCenter, La. Sea Grant unveil first-of-its-kind Seafood Processing Lab on the Gulf Coast
[22 July 2022] JEANERETTE, La. — The LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant showcased a new Seafood Processing Demonstration Laboratory at the AgCenter Iberia Research Station.
On July 19, the organizations hosted a ribbon cutting for the facility located at 603 LSU Bridge Road in Jeanerette, Louisiana. The facility will offer seafood processors hands-on training with equipment that can be used to create value-added seafood products and add marketability to what is being caught in Louisiana’s coastal and inland waters.
The facility is the first of its kind in the nation, according to Evelyn Watts, LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant seafood extension specialist. She and Thomas Hymel, LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant marine agent, had the idea for the facility two and half years ago and were instrumental in bringing it to fruition.
“We are an example for Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and the rest of the country,” Watts said. “The idea of the facility is that we can use it as a demonstration lab for people who want to start a seafood processing business. We can show them what type of equipment, with what layout, how to pack and how to freeze. We can also do this for existing facilities that need training for their employees or their managers on how to do things. We are looking to work with seafood technology and also with seafood safety.”
Hymel serves as director of Louisiana Fisheries Forward, a voluntary educational program for commercial fishermen with the goal of improving the economic success of Louisiana’s commercial fishing industry. During his 37 years in his position, he has helped the Louisiana Gulf Coast’s commercial fishing industry tread water amid natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a billion-dollar industry,” Hymel said. “There’s so much demand for the product that we have. Now, there are new ways to package it, freeze it and market it that we haven’t done much of in the past. There are new opportunities now that we never had before in seafood, so this facility gives us an opportunity to capture some of that and help move the state forward.”
Hymel said plans are to start demonstrating simple projects that can be incorporated into a small fisherman’s repertoire to create value-added products.
“There’s a lot of questions about smoked fish — smoked catfish and garfish,” Hymel said. “That’s trending right now.”
“We had this equipment, but we could only take it on the road so many places,” said Julie Anderson Lively, executive director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program at LSU. “It’s amazing that this facility can now serve more with the equipment always available and ready.”
The lab is stocked with ready-to-use seafood processing equipment including stainless steel kitchen-grade appliances like a meat grinder, bandsaw, processing tables and sinks, ice makers and industry-specific items like a shrimp splitter, a fish scaler and modified atmosphere packaging machines.
Numerous refrigerators and freezers will be used to store the value-added seafood products that are derived from the fresh daily catches. Watts said while some of the equipment in the lab was from prior purchases, the remainder of the equipment was obtained through donations and grant-funded acquisitions.
LSU Interim Vice President of Agriculture and Dean of the College of Agriculture Luke Laborde was on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. He said the lab adds to the rich history of research and extension work conducted at the Iberia Research Station, but the real value of the facility will go far beyond the Louisiana seafood industry.
“This is going to bring new people, new clients into the industry, but more importantly, it’s going to bring new economic development to south Louisiana and the Acadiana area,” Laborde said.
The laboratory will add seafood to the list of research and extension offerings at the station. The facility is currently home to research plots of sugarcane, soybeans and forage grasses. Research into beef cattle breeding, feeding and grazing remains a substantial part of the work done there. The building that now houses the seafood lab was once a beef cattle grow-out barn — but the renovated, pristine facility shows no evidence of its prior purpose.
“The seafood industry is a significant contributor to our economy,” said Kurt Guidry, AgCenter Southwest Region director and agricultural economist. “We at the AgCenter and Sea Grant need to service that industry. This is going to give them the ability to do what they have already been doing and taking it to the next level with value-added products.”
Among those attending the ribbon-cutting event were LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant administrators, private fishermen and local dignitaries, including Iberia Parish President Larry Richard, who said the new facility will bring great opportunities to Iberia Parish.
“This is a big deal for us,” Richard said. “When you’re talking about the small businesses coming in and learning how to package seafood, and things of that nature, you’re bringing more opportunities, more business to the parish, which means bringing in more tax dollars.”
Former graduate student of SNFS joins United Nations
Ms. Joan Pashu Pohamba, a former graduate student of Dr. Subramaniam Sathivel, joined the United Nations (UN) under the World Food Program (WFP) agency in the Program Policy Office for Biotechnology and Food Fortification under the Namibian country office.
It is a significant achievement for a young scientist to join the UN. Ms. Pohamba is a positive and determined individual who wants to help the rural African community, especially Namibia. This led Ms. Pohamba to join Dr. Sathivel’s Lab at the School of Nutrition and Food science and Department of Biological Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, in 2019 to conduct a master’s study on improving the shelf life and food safety of the Namibian indigenous beverage “Oshikundu” under a Foreign Fulbright scholarship.
Despite the COVID19 restriction, Ms. Pohamba never gave up her hope of successfully completing her research. Ms. Pohamba successfully completed her thesis “Production of a Namibian Oshikundu Fermented Beverage Prototype using Lactobacillus plantarum NRRL-B-4496 and Saccharomyces cerevisia (Safeale S-33)” and returned to Namibia.
Ms. Pohamba mentioned that her thesis study had become her backbone in the current role that the UN entrusted to her to ensure zero hunger within the globe, particularly within Namibia. Ms. Pohamba’s accomplishment was well recognized by the Louisiana State University International Programs and awarded first place in the students’ category of the LSU Virtual International Research Fair. Ms. Pohamba has thanked Dr. Sathivel for believing in her as a person and her research vision. Dr. Sathivel and her fellow students at her Food and Bioprocessing Lab congratulate Ms. Pohamba on her success and wish her the best and plenty of success at the UN.
Gabriel Joined Acme Smoked Fish of North Carolina/RC Creations, LLC, North Carolina
Congratulations to Mr. Gabriel Cespedes. Mr. Cespedes has joined as Food Safety Technologist at Acme Smoked Fish of North Carolina/RC Creations, LLC, North Carolina.
Acme Smoked Fish is a smoked salmon manufacturer originating in Brooklyn, New York in 1954 and produces a wide variety of retail & foodservice cold-smoked and hot-smoked salmon and finfish products.
Mr. Cespedes received his Undergraduate Degree from the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. He is a master’s student under Dr. Subramaniam Sathivel at the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences and is planning to graduate in the Fall semester 2021. Dr. Sathivel and Gabriel’s lab mates would like to congratulate Gabriel on his new job and wish him continued success in his professional career development.
Former SNFS Graduate Student Master’s Thesis and Business Featured in Philippines News
Ms. Kriza Calumba Master's study was recognized and featured with several news appearances in the Philippines (Manila Bulletin, This Week in Asia, NextShark News, and the Chiang Rai Times) Ms. Calumba master’s thesis was also published in Food Production, Processing, and Nutrition peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Ms. Calumba was a former graduate student of Dr. Subramaniam Sathivel at the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences at LSU and was a Fulbright Scholar. In 2018, she was awarded an IFT Feeding Tomorrow Andy Rao International Division Travel Scholarship.
After completion of her master’s thesis, Kriza joined the Department of Food Science and Chemistry, University of the Philippines, Mindanao as an assistant professor. Kriza has opened a probiotic yogurt milk tea business in Davao City, Philippines. Link to Article: "Why Milk Tea can be good for you."
