Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. John Rushing

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                                                               F2F Volunteer Dr. John Rushing

Dr. John Rushing is an emeritus professor at North Carolina State University’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. During his decades’ long career in NCSU’s Food Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, Dr. Rushing has advised and directed numerous food technology and food safety programs at various regulatory agencies and private companies in North Carolina, and throughout the world. Currently, Dr. Rushing is an independent foot technology consultant who remains committed to training the next generation of Food Scientists. By way of the annual “John and Kelli Rushing Food Science Freshman Scholarship”, Dr. Rushing and his wife support Food Science students at NCSU with the financial assistance they need to continue pursuing their potential.

In addition to being leader in the area of Food Technology, Dr. John Rushing has also been a committed Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer. During the last decade, he has participated in numerous F2F volunteer assignments in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua. In March 2017, Dr. Rushing returned to the Dominican Republic to work with local host, ISA University. Located just outside Santiago de Los Caballeros, ISA trains students in a wide array of academic fields ranging from agro-forestry and environmental management to food technology. During this F2F assignment, Dr. Rushing assisted technicians from ISA’s food microbiology lab in improving their methods and techniques for analyzing food-based pathogens, including E. coli, coliforms, aerobic mesophiles, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria, molds, yeasts, among others. He also provided technical advice on equipment acquisitions, made recommendations on plant layouts and evaluated operations to meet international food safety standards and improve food technologies. As part of these trainings, Dr. Rushing also worked alongside ISA Faculty to lead various lectures related to dairy processing plants. These modules included topics such as milk pasteurization, hygiene management, as well as post-processing contamination.

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