Dr. Steven Ricke Receives 2023 Poultry Science Association Distinguished Poultry Industry Career Award

Photo Courtesy of US Poultry & Egg Association
Dr. Steven Ricke’s trip to the Poultry Science Association (PSA) Annual Meeting this past July in Philadelphia was extra special as he was awarded the 2023 Poultry Science Association Distinguished Poultry Industry Career Award. The award is sponsored by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) and recognizes distinctive and outstanding contributions.
Reviewing what Dr. Ricke has accomplished in his career, it is not hard to agree with USPOULTRY President John Starky when he said that everyone involved believes Dr. Ricke has “. . . truly helped to grow and improve our industry.”. Dr. Ricke is behind over 400 peer-reviewed research publications, some of which are featured later on in this newsletter in the publications section. And with over 200 invited talks, which now includes a keynote address at the 77th Reciprocal Meat Conference in 2024, Dr. Ricke’s wisdom is highly sought after.
It was noted that Dr. Ricke’s research is often applied and aims to find solutions to issues facing the poultry and egg industry. This focus embodies not only a lot of what Dr. Ricke does, but also in large part the mission of MSABD as a whole. MSABD’s more novel ability to facilitate longitudinal studies also suits Dr. Ricke well as he researches the link between live bird production and poultry processing.
Much of Dr. Ricke’s research focuses on food safety, specifically the control of Salmonella and Campylobacter. An interesting facet of this is building an understanding of the mechanisms these pathogens use to survive in a variety of poultry production environments. Dr. Ricke has expanded on this to develop the concept of microbiome mapping: a snapshot of things like where the pathogens are physically located on the farm and in the processing plant, how they multiply and spread, and their dynamic relationship with other microorganisms and factors in their given environment. This research is even applied to the insides of chicken stomachs! – how pathogens inhabit the digestive tracks of live birds and what role feed additives might play in controlling the pathogens.
Dr. Ricke’s latest award follows up his PSA National Research Award (1999), American Egg Board Award (2006), Evonik Award for Achievement in Poultry Science (2019), and National Chicken Council Broiler Research Award (2020), as well as being named a PSA Fellow in 2017.
This article was posted in News.