Students Travel to Last Frontier to Learn About Food Safety

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Jenny Hoang went to the Last Frontier this summer to learn about food safety.

The fourth-year food science and technology student interned with Trident Seafood Corp. in Naknek, Alaska, a small community of about 600 residents that is about an hour’s flight southwest from Anchorage.

“Being in a totally new environment, adapting to a totally new lifestyle, and learning a lot about my major through hands-on and in-person experience were the best,” Hoang says. “The people were all so friendly, and their willingness to teach is what I loved about my experience.”

Hoang was one of three human nutrition and food science students from Cal Poly Pomona who spent part of their summers working at internships with Trident Seafood in Alaska. Jonathan Kwalk and Kathleen Serrano also were interns.

A Bay Area native who transferred to Cal Poly Pomona, Hoang found out about the paid internship through the instructor in her food microbiology course. She decided to apply for it.

“The pay was minimum wage, but what I was looking for was the new skills, knowledge and experience I could gain from this internship,” she says.

Hoang spent her five-week internship working on quality assurance at Trident Seafood’s cannery in Naknek through the end of July. She monitored the cans to make sure that the seams didn’t have any defects, ensuring that the cans were cooked at the right time and temperature, and verifying that the water cooling process was followed.

Jenny Hoang and friends at her internship

Photo: Jenny Hoang, right, with two co-workers at Trident Seafood.

Trident Seafood put her up in dorm-style housing and meals. But the community of Naknek was very different from the Los Angeles metropolis: there was no Internet, wi-fi, or TV, and very poor phone reception, Hoang says.

“Learning to live a lifestyle from back in the day was interesting,” she says. “During my free time, I would read books, go out for walks or hangout with friends.”

The environment was also quite different: Naknek had more than 16 hours of daylight every day, owing to its location at higher latitudes. The weather also changed from sunny in June to rainy, Seattle-like conditions and cold nights in mid-July, Hoang says.

Working in Alaska may not be for everyone, but Hoang enjoyed the challenge.

“I personally loved the experience,” she says, “because it gave me the opportunity to step out from my comfort zone and see something totally new and different.”

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