College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Janice Harte is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, MSU, and is in charge of planning and executing industry-directed sensory and food product development research and development activities to promote Michigan’s plant agriculture (hard apple cider, carrots, berries, cherries, cherry and white grape juice concentrate, organic apples, watermelon, dried beans, tomatoes, asparagus, chestnuts, including a variety of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables).  This has included multidisciplinary team projects to develop value added plant products in an effort to help sustain the profitability of Michigan farmers and entrepreneurs. A portion of her appointment was assigned to the MSU Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) that was established in spring, 2003 with funds from the Ag Bio Research,  Michigan State University Extension, and Project GREEEN to improve economic opportunities in the Michigan agriculture, food and natural resource sectors. This also included projects on some select value added products in the animal and nonfood areas.  She is in charge of the nutritional labeling, and product testing (pH, water activities), and food product improvement and projects. 

A native of Chicago, Illinois, her undergraduate degree in Food Science came from the University of Illinois.  She came to MSU to obtain a M.S. in Food Science followed by a Ph.D. in Foods in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. Prior to joining the Product Center, Janice Harte taught many diverse courses in the Dietetics and Food Science programs (experimental foods, basic food science, fruit and vegetable processing, cereal technology, food chemistry, sensory evaluation, etc.) and was a consultant for Food Packaging Innovations.  Janice also teaches in the Department of FSHN: Consumer Research and Sensory Evaluation and for 15 years taught the senior capstone course, Food Product Development which encompass her areas of expertise.

Janice continues to be the adviser of the MSU food product development teams that have won first place (2007, 2008 and 2011) and placed as finalists in many national competitions over the past 15 years. She received the Howard and Lili Ann Camden Endowed Creativity/Teacher/Scholar Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in 2008 in recognition of these efforts. Janice is a Certified Food Scientist and a professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists.  Patent in the United States, issued on 3/31/2015 as Patent No. 8,993,944.  “Microwaveable packaging for food products including a frozen component” MSU Ref. TEC2011-0035-01.