Tech Valley High Students Visit State Food Laboratory

From the state Department of Agriculture and Markets:

Tech Valley High School students tour the state Food Laboratory Feb. 11.

Students from Tech Valley High School in Albany today (Feb. 11) visited the New York State Food Laboratory as part of their I-term experience.

More than a dozen students got an up-close look inside the state-of-the-art research and testing labs as part of their I-term experience, which allows the students to learn first-hand about careers at businesses and non-profits in the Capital Region.

Thursday morning, students toured the New York Food Laboratory, which provides expert, analytical testing capacity in the areas of microbiology and chemistry to support food safety and security programs, as well as protect consumer and agricultural interests in New York state.  

The Food Lab collaborates with federal and state organizations like the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state Department of Health’s Wadsworth Laboratory.  

In 2015, more than 20,000 food and pesticide samples were analyzed in the New York State Food Laboratory, leading to nearly 240 recalls of adulterated food products.

Students were able to get a first-hand look at the testing methods of food and beverage samples for specific health hazards, purity of a food product and accuracy of labeling. 

The visit to the New York State Food Laboratory builds on Tech Valley High School’s I-term experiences this semester. Tech Valley High School is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)-based school, and the tour helped the students learn about the Department’s involvement in innovative, high-tech research and testing.

I-term is an annual project that gives Tech Valley High School students the opportunity to explore their interests and gain experiential learning in careers first-hand. The program is designed to foster direct workplace interaction between students and professionals to give students a realistic understanding of an industry or field of study. I-term starts freshman year and scaffolds to build in complexity over four years.

For more information about the Department of Agriculture and Markets’ New York State Food Laboratory, visit http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/FL/FLHome.html, and for the Bureau of Weights and Measures, go to  http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/WM/WMHome.html.