Steven Ricke, a professor in the Dept. of Animal and Dairy Sciences was recognized for his outstanding food safety research accomplishments as the 2025 recipient of the Arm & Hammer Food Production and Food Safety Award. The purpose of this award is to stimulate and reward research in the field of poultry (chicken, turkeys and eggs) pre- and post-harvest food safety. He was honored at the annual Poultry Science Association Awards banquet on July 17, 2025, held in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Ricke’s program emphasizes foodborne Salmonella and Campylobacter ecology from the broiler farm to the processing plant and mechanisms employed by pathogens to survive these highly variable poultry industry environments. His group has used this to devise preharvest and postharvest prevention strategies that better limit survival of these pathogens during poultry and egg production.  Dr. Ricke is exploring microbiome approaches to develop a better understanding of the interaction of the gut microbiota with pathogens and to evaluate responses to feed additives.

This article first published on ECALS.