Dennis Seman

In 1977, AMSA established the Meat Processing Award to recognize outstanding ability as a researcher or specialist in meat processing.

The AMSA Meat Processing Award is sponsored by Smithfield Foods.

Dr. Dennis Seman was born in 1954 in Greenville, Ohio, and was raised on a farm that included crops, pigs and sheep, and a small dairy. A member of FFA through high school, he attended The Ohio State University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Education. Dennis then moved to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he received his M.S. degree in Animal Science in 1978, under Dr. Dennis Olson. Upon completion of his master’s degree, Dennis enrolled in St. Louis Christian College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Christian Education in 1982. He then moved to the University of Kentucky in Lexington to pursue doctoral studies in Animal Science under Dr. Bill Moody. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1986, Dennis moved to New Zealand where, until 1989, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at Invermay Research Centre, and a lecturer at the University of Otago. Upon his return, he held postdoctoral positions at the University of Kentucky and Auburn University.

 

In 1990, Dennis was hired as a research scientist at Oscar Mayer in Madison, Wisconsin, where he has made significant meat processing and food safety contributions to Oscar Mayer and Kraft Foods, and also to the entire processed meats industry. His superior efforts have been recognized with the Oscar Mayer Achievement Award and the Kraft Innovation Excellence Award. He is the author or co-author of nine peer-reviewed scientific publications. Dennis’ meat safety work is perhaps his greatest and most lasting contribution to date, having led research on the use of lactate and diacetate to control the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat meat products This work resulted in the development of the widely used Opti-Form Listeria Growth Suppression Model, which helps processors determine the amounts of lactate and diacetate to use in order to ensure the inhibition of L. monocytogenes growth over a product’s shelf life. This work has been widely recognized across the industry for its contribution to public health and avoidance of economic and non-economic losses to the industry. In 2003, he was selected to represent Kraft in a United Nations Volunteers – Corporate/Private Sector Program mission to Ullan-Battar, Mongolia, where he brought product development ideas and technical assistance to a local meat processor.

Dennis has been a member of the AMSA since 1976 and has participated in the MIRC, Western Meat Science Conference Planning Committees and has served as research poster competition judge at ICoMST and RMC. He was a member of the National Pork Producers Pork Quality Solutions Team from 1997 and 2001. He has also been elected to membership in Alpha Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta and Sigma Xi. Away from work, Dennis’ hobbies include steam engines, woodworking and karate. Dennis lives in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, with his wife, Kathi, and their two daughters, Abbie and Christie.