8/7/01

Contacts:
Tony Pometto, NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center, (515) 296-5383
Barb McManus, Ag Communications, (515) 294-0707

ISU NASA FOOD CENTER FEATURED AT IOWA STATE FAIR

AMES, Iowa -- Developing foods for both astronauts and consumers is the focus of the NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center at Iowa State. Tony Pometto, director, said the center is one of 17 space centers in the United States, but the only center developing foods and food processing technologies for both space habitation and consumers on Earth.

The center's research will be featured at the Iowa State Fair from Aug. 9 to 19th on the second floor of the Agriculture Building at the ISU College of Agriculture exhibit. This year's theme "2001: A Space Food Odyssey" will include information about the center as well as items on loan from NASA.

"Our purpose is to develop new products for the public while benefiting the space program," Pometto said. "We are building a network of scientists and experts in the field of food science and technology who can develop food products and technologies that provide safe and nutritious food in space."

Iowa State was chosen in 1999 as the site for the NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston sponsors the center under a five-year agreement and provides $500,000 a year in funding.

At the State Fair, NASA items being exhibited include an Apollo Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit. The suits were worn between 1969 and 1972 and were multi-layered for comfort and protection. The display also includes a food-tray mockup and a scaled-down model of a shuttle orbiter.

The exhibit also will feature information about soybean use in space. The soybean is one of 15 crops selected by NASA to be grown on space outposts in the future. Iowa State researchers are developing simple, low-cost technologies to process soybeans into edible oil and soy flour. These "mini-mills" also could be used by Earth-bound producers to process beans into specialty oils.

Visitors can sign up for daily prizes, which include NASA caps and mugs, and a grand prize drawing for a battery-operated shuttle orbiter toy. The exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day during the Iowa State Fair.

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