2024 Mahoney Life Sciences Prize Awarded

Lynne McLandsborough, recipient of the 2024 Mahoney Life Sciences Prize, has devised a groundbreaking solution to address sanitation and food safety challenges faced by the peanut butter and chocolate industries. Her innovative “dry” sanitation method has garnered attention from major players in the field, including Mars (the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer) and J.M. Smucker (owner of Jif peanut butter). McLandsborough is actively collaborating with these companies to test her method in pilot plant facilities. Additionally, she has filed a patent application for her remarkable innovation.

Explaining her approach, McLandsborough shares, “We added a small, controlled amount of water as an emulsion. By mixing the acidified oil with a surfactant and water—just 1 to 3%—we achieved a six-log bacterial reduction
(equivalent to a 99.9999% kill rate).” The improved kill rate is attributed to osmotic pressure, a fundamental concept in both basic microbiology and food science. McLandsborough emphasizes, “It’s simple, but it works.”.