In the Press...

Carl Winter has been nicknamed the " Sinatra of Salmonella, the Elvis of E. coli."

Those are apt titles for the sorta-rocking toxicologist with the University of California at Davis who is having some musical fun with a serious subject, food safety.

Winter, director of the university's FoodSafe program and a sometimes lecturer in the central San Joaquin Valley, is getting national attention because of his musical spoof:   "Stayin' Alive:   A hearty Helping of Food Follies and Science Serenades."

His take on "Ghostbusters"; is called "Foodbusters" and has the refrain "I ain't afraid of no roast."

The 40-year-old Winter turns "Surfin USA" into "Clonin' DNA" on his self-produced, self-financed compact disc.

"Beat It" becomes "Eat It."

Instead of "I want my MTV" as the mantra on "Money for Nothing," Winter warbles:   "I want my Ph.D."

Winter did the CD for fun, a way to liven things up a bit during interaction with academic colleagues and food professionals. "This has taken me by surprise," he said, "how much interest there is in this on the part of schoolteachers....It may have a greater utility than I considered."

Bear in mind that this educator--who appears on the cover of the compact disc in John Travolta disco style with an upward-thrust hamburger--has a Ph.D. and has testified before such august bodies as a U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

His work has brought him to the Valley to speak--not sing--with growers about pesticide use and other matters. Winter has a long list of publications in serious professional and academic journals.

Winter describes his areas of academic interest as: "toxicological consequences of pesticide residues and other contaminants in foods, including risk assessment; regulation and public policy of pesticide residues and contaminants; naturally occurring food toxins; bio-analytical toxicology."

Rock on.

Here's another sample from his CD, based on the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive":

Winter does not pretend his compact disc compares in production value with the likes of the food tune frolics of Weird Al Yankovic.

"He (Winter) produced it in his spare bedroom with a synthesizer, for goodness sakes," said Bernadine Ferguson, a fan and chairwoman of the San Joaquin Valley subsection of the national Institute of Food Technologists.

She's not kidding. The label shows a copyright for "Spare Bedroom Studios, Davis."

Ferguson's group brought Winter to Fresno last month where he performedbefore about 60 members of the food industry and related professions.

"Everybody had a great time singing along and boogieing to the music," Ferguson said.

Earlier, Winter performed at a national meeting of the group in Chicago. Future gigs call on him to perform in late March at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore, Md., before the Maryland section of the Institute of Food Technologists. He'll also entertain the Puget Sound section in Seattle before playing at a food safety summit in Washington, D.C.

Winter said thousands of visitors to the university's FoodSafe Web site use his music portion of the site to listen to some of the tunes, then follow links from there to more serious subject matter. The site can be accessed on the Internet at foodsafe.ucdavis.edu.

One of the stops on the site reads: "The CDs are free, although donations for singing lessons are encouraged. Please send requests to:   Carl K. Winter, Food Science and Technology, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616."

Winter said nearly 500 of the discs have been distributed and he plans to have another 500 made.

Winter played for several bands in Davis while attending college. "I got away from the music when I got into advanced education and started a family."

He purchased a synthesizer, discovered he could become a one-person band and used ear phones so his playing wouldn't rile his wife and two sons.

The end result is a combination of food for thought and fun.