NE Kansas students take produce-cleaning presentation to the national level

JUNCTION CITY (KSNT) – Two seniors took the age-old common household question and turned it into a project they will soon be presenting at the national level.

Emma Hinds and Keiondrae Wilcox are seniors at Junction City High School and members of the city’s FFA Chapter. These two seniors were recently recognized at the state level in the food products and processing systems category. Now, Hinds and Wilcox have the chance to take their project to nationals to compete against some of the best across the country. The project that got these student a spot at the top was trying to figure out the best way to clean produce to prevent illnesses.

“We really just wanted to see ‘Are we doing this right? Are we being as safe as we possibly can be?’,” Wilcox said. “We did our project on cleaning tomatoes, and we’re looking for the most effective way to clean tomatoes.”

The pair started by washing with water, then compared that method to using Arm & Hammer Vegetable Wash, a social media trend of using a fruit washing machine and using the tomatoes straight from the store without being washed. Wilcox and Hinds found that washing with water was most effective, and their work won them first state-wide in their division, and a spot to take this presentation to the national stage.

Currently, they are ranked fourth in their division and are competing against winners from each state for a top-three spot for recognition, and a cash prize. Wilcox told 27 News he and Hinds have “beefed up” the presentation, adding in statistical analysis, which he thinks will help them be more competitive at this higher level.

Hinds tells 27 News she’s excited to be competing nationally her last year of high school, but as someone who has suffered from food-related illnesses, she has enjoyed doing the research to see the facts for herself.

“I always really wanted to know, like, the background of how much bacteria could be on something,” Hinds said. “And, I’ve seen so many videos of people doing like petri swabs and stuff of them swabbing things to see how much bacteria, and I’ve always wanted to do that.”

For Wilcox, he’s ready for nationals because he’s a competitive person, but along the way, he’s told 27 News he learned to go out and find solutions.

“I would say just to be pretty determined,” Wilcox said. “Just wanting to go out and do something, wanting to find problems and find solutions and really work at things and to not be praised for it, but just learn more about your everyday life and that gives us knowledge that not everybody has.”

Hinds and Wilcox will take their presentation to Indianapolis, IN on Nov. 1 with the hopes of bringing that national title back to Junction City.