Alyssa Washeleski

NFS 2130
Dr. Nadia Saadat
27 November 2016
Honors Service-Learning Requirement
For my HON 3000 project, I worked at Gleaners Community Food Bank and the
Mercado Food Hub which is the food pantry connected to Gleaners. I connected my volunteering
with the course NFS 2130 Introductory Food Science taught by Dr. Nadia Saadat. I volunteered
more hours at the Mercado, because their hours fit better with my school schedule and I enjoyed
the work I did there. At Gleaners on the main floor, I helped package potatoes and apples;
brought empty pallets down and helped stack them; and helped rip the plastic off the enormous
boxes of food so that the other helpers could easily access the food products. I also worked in the
office, where I had to enter into spreadsheets who came in to volunteer and their information,
such as their email, phone number, and the organization they were volunteering with.
The Mercado Food Hub is run by Mrs. Alma Perez, who I had the pleasure of working
with. At this food pantry, I mainly dealt with people and helped them pick out nutritious foods.
Since the Mercado is a food pantry, those who are in need of food would come in to shop for
themselves. It starts off with them registering in our office, and once everything is finalized, they
come into the pantry. We have all the donated food products on shelves or in refrigerators and
freezers. Depending on how many people are in their family, they are able to pick so many items
from each area of the pantry. This allows them to get food they need, but it also gives them a
sense of control as they are able to choose what items they want instead of just receiving random
donations. They push a grocery cart around, and once it is filled and they have stopped at all the
stations, we push the cart onto a weighing machine and record how much food was taken and
their name. These numbers are reported to Gleaners headquarters. Then, they are able to take the
food out to their car or put in the items in whatever transportation system they have brought. It is
extremely humbling to volunteer here, because some people come in with metal carts and can
only take as much as they are able to pack. It is emphasized that since we are dealing with
people, we need to treat them with dignity and respect more so than usual, because some may be
embarrassed about having to shop at a food pantry. Along with helping the customers shop, I
worked in the office contacting customers to remind them when they have their appointment. I

also work unboxing the donated items, sorting the produce, and restocking the shelves. After
each shopping session, the shelves have to be restocked since we work with the three area codes
surrounding the Mercado Food Hub. We constantly having people coming in and out of the food
pantry throughout the week.
I believe that my class NFS 2130 - Introductory Food Science worked perfectly with me
volunteering at the food pantry, because we have to be weary of the dates on food and how to
properly handle and store them. One of the best ways of knowing that is to find out how these
foods are made, packaged, what preservatives are in them, and how to store them to retain
maximal nutritional quality. Expiration dates and best by dates are also very important to check
often, since some of the food donated stays at the Mercado for quite some time before customers
pick it up. When we get a large shipment of the same item, it can be difficult to distribute it all
before its best by or expiration date. As Alma, the director of the Mercado, says, we need to
push them out (the food items) so that everything is able to be used before it expires. Most of
the units throughout this course applied to my volunteering in one way or another.
Starting with Unit 1 on Food Quality, we do perceive food quality through the human
sensory organs. At the Mercado, customers choose what they like best using their sense of sight,
smell, and taste. The color in foods is a result of natural pigments, or natural or artificial
colorants. These pigments deteriorate quickly, but the flavor is still retained for a long period of
time. Some of our produce doesnt look the best, but it is still nutritious and edible. Luckily, the
people that come to our pantry in need of food arent usually picky.
With Unit 2 - Food Deterioration and Food Safety, we discussed five keys to safer food.
The first key is to keep clean; at the Mercado, we wash our hands before and after working with
the produce. The second key, separate raw and cooked foods, is also something we abide by. We
store the raw meats in a separate freezer so they dont potentially contaminate other items, such
as frozen blueberries. The third key, cook foods thoroughly, doesnt necessarily correlate since
we dont cook the food for the customers. The fourth key, keep food at safe temperatures, does
apply to us. We refrigerate all cooked and perishable foods, and we do not store food for long
periods of time in the refrigerator. Usually, we are able to distribute the food in a timely manner.
The fifth key, use safe water and raw materials, doesnt necessarily apply.
The shelf life is the length of time that food is expected to remain safe and retain desired
sensory chemical, physical, and microbiological characteristics. The shelf life refers to food

quality, and the expiration date refers to food safety. Whats especially important to note is the
best used by date is the last date of maximal quality, and the use by date or expiration date is the
date beyond which the product is no longer acceptable. I have helped people shop before that tell
me our food is expired, when really its just past its use by date. It has not expired, but people
are still weary to eat it. I believe this is because America has been taught that since we have the
capability of having large quantities of food, if any food looks the least bit suspicious or is past
its best by date, we should throw it out. However, this is not true at all. This was also difficult for
me to understand at first, but a lot of food goes to waste because we are too safe. Lots of items
we have are after their best by date, but they are not past their expiration date. Those who come
to our pantry know they are not always getting the highest quality food items, but they are
getting free nutritious food that is obviously safe to consume, and that is what is important.
Factors that affect shelf life can be chemical, physical, or microbiological deteriorative
changes. The chemical deteriorative changes would be like fat going rancid in fat-containing
foods. Other than checking the best by date for those items, there is really no other way for us to
see if the foods have gone bad since we dont taste them. Physical deteriorative changes would
be like bread turning hard by losing moisturewe try to slow this process down by storing the
breads in the refrigerators at night. Microbiological deteriorative changes are caused by spoilage
organisms and pathogens. This is seen as visual mold growth, which we also try to prevent by
refrigerating the bread and produce. At the Mercado Food Hub, we take precautions to prevent
all types of food-borne disease. Salmonella contamination can be prevented by customers
thoroughly cooking their eggs, meat, and poultry. Escherichia coli contamination can be
prevented by good sanitation and personal hygiene, proper cooking and heating techniques, and
proper refrigeration.
Many steps that we take may seem like common knowledge, but these are essential to
keeping the food pantry running smoothly without any problems. We make sure when we are
stocking the shelves that we put the things that expire soon out first and check the dates on food
items. When packages accidently open, we throw the food items away. We give each family a
carton of eggs, and from time to time, eggs have fallen and cracked in the fridge before, so we
have to discard the broken eggs and clean the area well. It is important to be cautious when it
comes to food safety, since we are working with a lot of food products and distributing to a large
number of people. A lot of these ideas are common sense for most, but there are a few that are

trickier. I learned while at the Mercado Food Hub that many canned goods will usually have a
best by date, but they dont have an expiration date. This is because canned foods can have a
shelf life of at least two years after the purchasing date. However, if cans are severely caved in or
dented, you need to throw them out. The dents allow air into the can, exposing the contents to the
air and allowing bacteria and other pathogens to grow. This is where I also learned that some
foods can extend their best by date as previously mentioned. We had a large shipment of
hummus come to the Mercado not long before it was going to start going bad, but since we kept
the tightly sealed containers refrigerated, the hummus was able to last a week past its printed
date. I also learned how to handle moldy foods. If a food is covered with mold, you must discard
it. You should clean the area where the food was and check the surrounding foods that it might
have potentially contaminated. When working with our fresh produce, some of our tomatoes in
the bottom of the produce shelves had gone bad, and it was important to deal with the situation
properly. Most foods with mold on them should be discarded, but when dealing with firm fruits
and vegetables or hard cheeses, you should be able to trim around the mold and consume the part
of the food that had no mold on it. We had discussed this topic in my class, and I had found it
very intriguing. I know that many people would just throw away any food that came in contact
with mold, and because of that, a lot of food is potentially wasted.
Unit 4 on Carbohydrates talked about the different types of starch sources and soluble
and insoluble fiber. At the food pantry, we provide our customers with a variety of carbohydrate
sources, from whole grain, wheat, and white bread to hot dog and hamburger buns to bagels. We
also offer cereals (Unit 5), and most of these are enriched or fortified. Enrichment is replenishing
nutrients removed in processing, and fortification is using cereals as carriers of nutrients
commonly deficient in our diet. This is especially important for those shopping at the Mercado,
because they have limited resources to access healthy, nutritious food. Those items with
additional vitamins and minerals could help them meet their recommended micronutrient intake
for the day.
We offer a variety of protein (Unit 7) sources, including meat, milk (refrigerated and
shelf-stable), hummus, eggs, canned fish, nuts, and beans. As for Unit 9 - Meat, we learned in
class about how fresh, uncooked meats should have a bright red color. If they have been sitting
for some time, you can tell because the meat will look more grayish-brown than red. This is a
way we can identify how long the meat has been sitting in the fridge along with looking at the

dates on the packages. For Unit 10 on Legumes, Fruits, and Vegetables, we do offer uncooked
legumes in bags. This a nutritious addition to a healthy diet, since they are low in fat and
cholesterol, high in protein and complex carbohydrates, rich in vitamins and minerals, and have a
high dietary fiber content. Fruits are vegetables are offered canned and fresh at the food pantry.
The produce can go bad quickly, so we encourage the customers to eat healthy by offering
unlimited produce. Our produce shipments are usually very large as well, so we will send people
home with crates of tomatoes or multiple bags of apples. The Mercado Food Hub even offers
cooking classes and flyers throughout the pantry with cooking tips and recipes on how to prepare
certain types of fruits and vegetables. For example, some customers may not know what
butternut squash is. However, if they are given a recipe on how to prepare it, they are more likely
to take the food item and prepare it at home. (Nadia Saadat, 2016)
As previously stated, I volunteered a lot more at the Mercado Food Hub than Gleaners.
When I did volunteer at Gleaners, the main part of volunteering that connected with my class
was when I had to sort apples. We had talked in class about how eggs have different gradings to
them; apples are the same way. We were working with the apples that werent nice enough to be
sold in supermarkets but were still perfectly good, nutritious apples. They may have been a bit
off-colored or had some minor markings on their surface, but there was nothing wrong with the
actual apples themselves. While we were sorting through them and bagging them, as you would
imagine, some of them had gone bad or werent the best quality. We threw the unappetizing or
inedible ones away, but we didnt wash the apples surrounding the defected oneswe just
continued bagging them. I thought this was important to note, because it is always encouraged to
wash your produce before you consume it. There are multiple reasons, including to wash off any
chemicals and any dirt that may still be on the produce, but also, in case it was contaminated by
decaying produce and never further washed.
I felt that it was very beneficial to do my Honors service-learning requirement with this
class, because poverty is a major issue in the city of Detroit. Going to Wayne State University,
we are given multiple opportunities to impact those struggling around us. According to The
Detroit News, in 2014 the state of Michigan saw a decline in the percentage of people living in
poverty. However, its poverty level remained higher than the national average. Adding to that,
Detroit is the most impoverished major city in American with 39.3% of its inhabitants living
below a poverty line of $24,008 for a family of four. Wayne has 24% living in poverty, Macomb

has 12.2%, Oakland has 9.9%, and Livingston has 5.6% Detroits median household income is
$25,769, which is much smaller than the rest of the cities in Michigan. Although Michigans
poverty rate declined from 17% in 2013 to 16.2% in 2014, it is still higher than the national
poverty rate of 15.5%. Results of a survey showed that even though the U.S. economy is getting
better, few Americans have benefited. This was the fourth consecutive year that the number of
people in poverty didnt change statistically. The growth in income has been happening among
those that are well off and doesnt end up making its way to the people at the lower income level.
In cities like Rochester Hills, the median household income went from $81,053 to $90,064,
resulting in an over $9,000 increase in income. (Karen Bouffard, 2015) In Detroit, it is apparent
that a lot of people dont have the resources they need and are struggling to make ends meet.
That is why this project for the Honors College seemed so important to me, because we are given
the opportunity to directly help those around us.
Gleaners Community Food Bank is one of the places that helps out those in need.
Gleaners operates five distribution centers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and
Monroe. This food bank collects 34.5 million pounds of food a year and distributes 79,000 meals
each day. They also provide food and nutrition education to 84,700 children a year. Every dollar
donated provides three meals and 93 cents of every donated dollar goes to food and food
programs. (N.A., 2016a) Gleaners distributes to their partner pantries, soup kitchens, shelters,
senior centers, and other agencies that also feed hungry people. (N.A., 2016b) The Gleaners
distribution center that I volunteered at was the Wayne location, and their partner pantry was the
Mercado Food Hub. I greatly enjoyed working at both of these locations and plan on continuing
to volunteer there in my following semesters at Wayne State University.

References
Saadat, Nadia. Units 1-11. Introductory Food Science, 31 August 2016-20 December 2016,
Wayne State University, MI. Lecture.
Karen Bouffard. (2015). Census bureau: Detroit is poorest big city in U.S., Newspaper Article,.
The Detroit News. Retrieved from
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/09/16/census-us-uninsureddrops-income-stagnates/32499231/
N.A. (2016a). Our Mission. Retrieved from http://www.gcfb.org/about_gcfb
N.A. (2016b). Programs. Retrieved from http://www.gcfb.org/programs