Even though schools have been forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, school food service directors have been busy supplying meals to students. In this episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma sits down with Megan Schaper, State College Area School District Director of Food Service, recently elected Vice President of the Pennsylvania School Nutrition Association and SHM alumna, HRIM ‘88. They discuss the challenges of switching from serving students in a cafeteria to providing meals for pickup and other unique challenges the pandemic has presented.

The new Allinfoodz Rapid Response series brings food service professionals sound and creative suggestions to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, Amit Sharma is joined by Alexis Lorenc, recent graduate of Penn State School of Hospitality management. Alexis shares the unique promotions food service businesses are rolling out during this unprecedented time.

Chambers of Commerce and other business organizations have always been an important part of local economies but even more so during this unprecedented time. Keeping businesses sustainable during the pandemic is at the forefront of these organizations. On this episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma sits down with Vern Squier, President and CEO of the Chamber of Business & Industry of Centre County and Fritz Smith, President and CEO of Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. They discuss the challenges local businesses are facing and what their organizations are doing to help.

The new Allinfoodz Rapid Response series brings food service professionals sound and creative suggestions to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this series premiere episode, Amit Sharma is joined by Breffni Noone, Associate Professor in the School of Hospitality Management whose focus is operations and revenue management.

Access to food has been a challenge for many in this unprecedented time. In New York City, food insecurity has always been an issue but even more so now. Amit Sharma sits down with Josiah Haken, Vice President of Outreach for New York City Relief, an organization that serves the struggling and homeless. Since 1989, NYC Relief has served over 7 million servings of food and beverage, connected over 385,000 people to help and hope and mobilized over 86,000 volunteers to serve with our outreach. They discuss the focus of the organization and the new challenges presented by COVID-19.

Food access and security has always been an issue for society and even more so in this unprecedented time. For Colleges and Universities, on campus dining has changed drastically since the implementation of social distancing and other measures in response to COVID-19. Although most students were able to return home many were unable to do that and are still living on campus. In this episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma sits down with Jim Richard, Director of Residential Dining at Penn State and Jim Meinecke, Associate Director of Residential Dining. They discuss the challenges presented by COVID-19 and how they’ve been able to serve the remaining students on campus.

In this unprecedented time, increasing food access in the community has become a paramount issue. Food banks and other organizations that provide food for no cost are becoming more important in these uncertain times. On Penn State’s University Park Campus, the Lion’s Pantry’s mission is to address and mitigate student hunger.  On this episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma sits down with President of The Lion's Pantry, Penn State student Sayre Bradley to discuss the Pantry's mission and practices.

COVID-19 is affecting lives around the world. In this episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma gets the scientific perspective on the virus with two Penn State Agriculture Science Professors whose expertise include epidemiology, immune responses to viruses, viral pathogenesis, viral vaccines and anti-virals. Bhushan M. Jayarao and Suresh V. Kuchipudi share their knowledge and take us on a deeper dive into COVID-19.

Food Safety has always been a top priority for society. It has become even more important in this unprecedented era. In this latest episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma sits down with Martin Bucknavage, Penn State Food Safety Extension Senior Associate to discuss food safety in the era of COVID-19.

Our culture thrives on human interaction and food and drink have been bringing us together for centuries. During this unprecedented time people have had to come up with alternatives to connect around food and drink. In this latest episode of Allinfoodz, Amit Sharma is joined by Penn State Professor of Horticultural Marketing and Business Management Kathy Kelley and Penn State School of Hospitality Management Instructor and Sommelier Pat Felitti. They discuss the state of the wine and spirits industry and how people are incorporating food and drink in virtual gatherings to gain that human connection.