Chapman food scientists use molecular tools to peel back the layers of deceptive labeling.

“It’s rewarding to expose where cheating is going on in the (food) industry and to share that with consumers as well as regulatory agencies.”

Rosalee Hellberg,

who leads Chapman’s Food Protection Lab

Professor Rosalee Hellberg, left, heads the Chapman Food Protection Lab and is the lead editor of the book “Food Fraud: A Global Threat With Public Health and Economic Consequences.”

FILLET OF FRAUD

A Chapman food science professor and her students use molecular tools to peel back the layers of deceptive labeling.

BY DENNIS ARP

On a hook or in a net, red snapper isn’t difficult to distinguish from rockfish or tilapia. But once the fish are filleted, they become hard to tell apart, making it easy for the unscrupulous to slip imposters past the typical guards of consumer protection. Just how easy? Well, a recent study by Professor Rosalee Hellberg and the Food Protection Lab at Chapman University found that 92% of retail samples labeled as red snapper were in fact a different species. Molecular testing identified them as mahi mahi, rockfish, tilapia or other snapper species. Definitely not what shoppers were paying extra to get. “There are a lot of issues and a lot of consequences of food fraud,” says Hellberg, Ph.D., associate professor of food science in Chapman’s Schmid College of Science and Technology. Hellberg’s research, which focuses on rapid methods for detection of food fraud and food contaminants, has greatly benefited from the university’s Faculty Opportunity Fund.

Faculty Opportunity Fund Supports Emerging Research

Launched in 2017, the fund supports Chapman research and creative activity as the researchers also pursue external funding. Over its three-year existence, the Faculty Opportunity Fund has seeded dozens of projects with awards of up to $15,000.

For Hellberg and the Food Protection Lab, the funding helped support research that included advances in multimode hyperspectral imaging and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to reveal undeclared species in food products. In addition to testing seafood, the lab applies its molecular techniques to root out unlabeled ingredients in pet foods, game meats and dietary supplements.

Student researcher Gabby McBride works on lab samples in Keck Center for Science and Engineering.

DNA research by food science graduate student Charles Quinto revealed that some game meats labeled as bear were in fact beaver. “Mislabeling like this seems economically motivated because there’s a substantial opportunity for profit,” Quinto says. “That really opened my eyes.” Hellberg says that working with students like Quinto provides rewards for her as well as the fledgling researchers. “I enjoy seeing how they gain confidence and grow to take ownership of a project,” Hellberg says. “A lot my students end up being lead or co-authors on scientific publications.”

Aided by student researchers, the Food Protection Lab has helped bring to light the layers of food fraud. The Grocery Manufacturers Association estimates that consumer product fraud costs U.S. manufacturers as much as $15 billion a year. “Fraud has been found to happen at all levels of the supply chain,” says Hellberg, who previously worked for the federal Food and Drug Administration. “As you move farther down the chain, you’ll find a higher percentage of fraud.”

Collaboration Helps Expose Dishonest Dealers

Sometimes the mislabeling is inadvertent, but often it’s the work of dishonest dealers substituting cheaper species for financial gain, Hellberg says. She and her lab team, which includes graduate and undergraduate students, often collaborate with scientists at enforcement agencies and publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals. “It’s rewarding to expose where cheating is going on in the industry and to share that with consumers as well as regulatory agencies,” says Hellberg, who in 2017 received the Emerging Leaders Network Award from the Institute of Food Technologists. She also has earned Chapman’s Wang-Fradkin Assistant Professorship Award, the university’s highest honor for research, and she is the lead editor of the book “Food Fraud: A Global Threat With Public Health and Economic Consequences.” Those health threats include food allergies triggered by unlabeled ingredients, as well as exposure to foodborne pathogens and toxins. In addition, sometimes food fraud research identifies threatened or endangered species in consumer products, Hellberg says. Red snapper is a particular target for fraud because it is highly valued and in limited supply because of overfishing, she says. “We’ve been able to show widespread mislabeling of red snapper and further develop techniques to improve fraud detection,” Hellberg notes.

The research has earned funding from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration for a project involving multimode hyperspectral imaging for food quality and safety. The lab’s promising results with a benchtop imager support its goal of developing a handheld imager for rapid screening of fish species. “We learn more with every new study we do,” Hellberg says.

“The goal is to provide our faculty with opportunities to catalyze new and innovative areas of exploration.”

Thomas Piechota,

VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH

Students such as A.J. Silva and Rachel Isaacs help move Food Protection Lab projects forward.

NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE NEXT ACT AT MUSCO CENTER

STORIES BY DAWN BONKER

Building on the venue’s success, the College of Performing Arts dean explores new opportunities for students and the community.

Stepping in to help lead the Musco Center for the Arts in its planning is Giulio Ongaro, dean of the College of Performing Arts (CoPA). Ongaro says he looks forward to building on the center’s success, while also developing new opportunities in the post-COVID-19 days to come. “Musco Center for the Arts is a wonderful resource for the College of Performing Arts, for Chapman and for our community. When the center was designed, faculty and students were placed at the center of the activities, creating a laboratory where our students could perform in a state-of-the-art venue. We want to emphasize this, while also leveraging Musco Center to connect with the community – and especially with the rich cultures that our community offers,” said Ongaro, Ph.D. Such ambitions will play out largely as performance venues around the world work to bring audiences back, but Ongaro is convinced that people are eager to trade sweatpants-at-home streaming habits for the real electricity of live entertainment. “I have faith in the power of a live performance because there is nothing like that shared experience, that moment of wonder when everything clicks on stage and you are on the edge of your seat as an audience member,” he says. “I believe that will bring audiences back.” Now, united under the same leadership, Musco and CoPA are well positioned to deliver that excitement together, collaboratively creating unique student opportunities and profound audience experiences. Last year saw the introduction of Musco Center’s Leap of Art Initiative, along with a series of companion master classes, artist residencies and other special programs that connected audiences to the academic experience and provided students enriched opportunities to work with renowned visiting artists. A key focus going forward will be an expansion of those types of collaborations, Ongaro says. “Musco executive director Richard Bryant and I, as well as our staffs, have already been thinking about the ways in which we can further enhance the student experience in Musco,” he says. “The center has William Hall, above, is retiring as founding dean of Musco Center for the Arts. Dean Giulio Ongaro, top, is taking on the additional role of Musco Center leadership.

DURING HIS 58TH YEAR OF SERVICE, WILLIAM HALL PASSES THE BATON

Over five decades, Chapman’s longest serving dean taught generations of students and built a tradition of excellence in the performing arts.

His choir sang to popes, his teaching shaped the musical careers of hundreds of Chapman University alumni, and his leadership helped make the Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts a hub for the arts in Southern California.

Now in his 58th year as professor of music at Chapman University, William Hall is retiring as dean and artistic director of Musco Center for the Arts. He is the longest-serving dean in Chapman’s history. “As founding dean of CoPA, then founding dean of Musco Center, Bill has had an immeasurable impact on Chapman. We are greatly indebted to him for his many years of service," said Chapman President Daniele Struppa. Hall’s dedication to Chapman leaves a foundational legacy that will long serve the College of Performing Arts (CoPA) and Musco Center, said CoPA Dean Giulio Ongaro, who now heads up the leadership at Musco Center.

“The tradition of excellence Bill set at CoPA and Musco Center is valuable beyond measure,” Ongaro said. “I benefit greatly from his experience and wisdom.” Since his arrival at Chapman in 1963, Hall has become an icon of music pedagogy and a champion of vocal performance in Southern California. The William Hall Chorale and Orange County Master Chorale, which he directed for many years, performed for presidents, popes and kings. He has guest conducted many symphony orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Vienna Symphony and London BBC Symphony. The William Hall Chorale was under contract to Columbia Artists Management for more than 30 years and sang throughout the U.S. and abroad. As an educator and mentor, Hall has influenced the lives of thousands of students through his teaching, clinics and choral festivals. A retirement celebration will be planned as COVID restrictions ease.

been presenting many performances that are tied to what we teach, and our students have benefited from master classes and residencies done by those artists, so we know the model works.” Musco Center and CoPA have also both emphasized bringing new voices and underrepresented artists to their stages. Harnessed together, those efforts will have even greater reach, Ongaro predicts. “In different and complementary ways, we have been engaging in building this aspect of our work. It is not a coincidence, for example, that the @Musco series is providing many online events that deal with those themes from a variety of angles,” he says. At Musco, programming inspired by the social justice movement following the spring 2020 protests included meet-the-artist conversations about the state of artists of color in dance as well as virtual concerts by the popular Bolero group Tres Souls. Similarly, CoPA created and hosted the Conscious Speaker Series, featuring guest artists from the Black Lives Matter and Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities. This spring the Department of Theatre presented an ensemble of student-written scenes inspired by personal experience and related to the movements. Ongaro promises more is to come. “We have many ideas to be a real bridge between Chapman and the community: Some projects have started now, others will have to wait until we can be in person,” he says. “But there is no question that this is a discussion we will continue for the foreseeable future.”

Ongaro’s new role comes as William Hall, founding dean and artistic director at Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts, retires from an illustrious 58-year career at Chapman..