Translation and Creation of Certificate Program & Courses from English to Spanish to Engage Growing Hispanic Population in the Dairy Industry
At Cornell, the Food Science Department is dedicated to helping New York State farmers, businesses, and industry members create safe and delicious foods for consumers. The Outreach and Extension Program provides services for a wide array of food manufacturers.
“Our extension program mission is to help farmers, food businesses and consumers in New York state and beyond to produce safe, healthy and wholesome foods.”
– Cornell CALS Food Science Outreach and Extension [1]
The Outreach and Extension program is composed of teams of specialists who offer advice and training for industry members. One team in particular is the Dairy Foods Extension Team, who offer guidance for both small and large dairy processors. Dr. Alcaine is a member of this team that offers consulting in sustainability, safety, and quality for dairy processors across the state. Some of the ARG lab members are involved in extension projects that aim to engage industry members with the content and services available. Margarita Valdiviezio is currently working on a project to make some of the extension materials more accessible for all members of the dairy industry.
Demographics in the United States have been changing throughout the past decades, with a large increase in the Hispanic population. This has also increased the number of Hispanic dairy workers in New York state. In a study from the Cornell Dyson School, only 5.8% of these workers speak English very well, and more than half do not speak English at all [2]. To ensure that every member of the dairy industry has the appropriate training, Margarita, a native Spanish speaker, is translating courses offered by the Extension Program from English to Spanish. This will ensure a broader reach of the materials to ensure that employees are trained to produce high quality and safe dairy goods.
Certificate Program and Courses are available to train small processors and their employees on the basics of safety, sanitation, and guidelines surrounding dairy processing. Margarita adapts the courses into Spanish, then the content is reviewed by Spanish speaking staff from the Cornell Dairy Foods Extension Team. Once the content is reviewed, she records a presentation that includes a general course review at the end. Then, she uploads the videos to the canvas site where they can be accessed by those enrolled in the course.
The courses that she has adapted are Basic Dairy Science and Sanitation and Accredited HACCP, which outline safety, sanitation, and hazard analysis of the dairy foods. This provides a comprehensive background for dairy workers in both English and Spanish!
Increasing accessibility of these courses can ensure safer and higher quality dairy products being produced throughout the state, ensuring happy and healthy customers everywhere!
[1] Cornell CALS. (2021). Food Science Outreach & Extension. Retrieved from: https://cals.cornell.edu/food-science/outreach-extension
[2] Maloney, T., Grusenmeyer, D. (2005). Survey of Hispanic Dairy Workers in New York State. Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University. RB 2005-02.