In 2019, the Minneapolis Health Department was working on a new website to report results of its restaurant food safety inspections. That summer, University of Minnesota researchers conducted “Dine or Dash,” a survey that tested support for better access to such information among adult Minnesotans at the Minnesota State Fair.
Led by then-graduate student Melanie Firestone, Dine or Dash found that more than 94% of the 1,188 fairgoers who completed the survey favored such an action. Four months later, the city formally launched its website.
Since 2014, nearly 200,000 fairgoers have taken part in 500 studies at the University of Minnesota's State Fair Research Facility on the fairgrounds in St. Paul. But the effects of the studies range well beyond research results.
“We also find impacts in the student experiences that come from working at the fair,” says Anne Marie Hotop, who manages the building. Further impacts, she says, come from “the overall public exposure to science and research that fairgoers get by coming to the building and talking directly with research teams.”
In every study, researchers aim to inspire participants to see themselves as what they are: essential partners in discovery.
Bolstering food safety
Now a faculty member in the University’s School of Public Health, Firestone has also studied how people use food date labels at the fair.
For example, in one study, “We found that 12% of people reported never eating food after the ‘sell-by’ date, which is intended for store inventory management,” she says.
That study’s results support a new California law banning “sell by” labels as a strategy to reduce food waste because that date does not indicate when a food product is best consumed by.
“Our work demonstrates that California's new policy could actually help prevent food waste,” says Firestone.
In their 2023 “What’s In Your Freezer?” state fair study, Firestone and her colleagues studied frozen food preparation practices, including raw or precooked stuffed breaded chicken products. With raw and precooked stuffed breaded chicken products on the market, consumers sometimes may not be aware that they are preparing a raw product and may not cook it adequately.
“Since the late 1990s, there have been numerous Salmonella outbreaks linked to stuffed breaded chicken products,” Firestone explains. “Findings from this study showed adherence to following cooking instructions on packaging may be lower than reported.”
This work supported the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s April 2024 move to require testing of raw breaded stuffed chicken products for Salmonella and keep any contaminated batches from the market.
In another state fair study — led by doctoral student Alexandra Edmundson and including Firestone and her colleague Craig W. Hedberg — nearly one in six consumers surveyed reported eating raw frozen vegetables, despite package instructions to cook them first. This points to a need to raise awareness that frozen vegetables should be cooked to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.
Shaping the future of AI
In recent years, Lana Yarosh, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, has led studies of how families think about emerging technologies such as virtual reality and AI. For example, she researches how families decide what technology is right for them and what rules they will have around its use.
“In 2024 we looked at what parents might want to know about AI,” she says. “What families say in these studies will … fundamentally shape the directions technologists pursue or don’t.”
Students at all levels — high school, undergraduate, and graduate students — are included, usually in large student teams, Yarosh notes.
“Including them in research at the fair is one of the most valuable things I do for my students,” she says. "It’s real hands-on experience, and it’s a great experience for learning about ethical and responsible deployment of technology.”
Experience that lasts a lifetime
State fair research projects give graduate and professional students invaluable experience, not only in performing studies but in interacting with members of the public who will benefit from their expertise later on.
This year, School of Nursing professor Wendy Looman and Doctor of Nursing Practice graduate student Jasmine Price will collaborate on a study of adolescents’ and young adults' perspectives on barriers and facilitators to accessing mental health care.
“It will guide the development of more accessible, youth-centered mental health services and resources tailored to the needs of young people in Minnesota,” says Price.
For the last three years, Andrea Grzybowski, a graduate student in Environmental Sciences in the School of Public Health, has performed survey research at the fairgrounds that has helped her gain a deeper understanding of what the data she collects actually represents.
“We hear participants’ questions in real time, and we get to actually see what the data looks like on the other side,” she says.
“Our survey topics have covered everything from knowledge and practices around human and pet food handling and safety to encounters with wild animals,” she adds. “This year I'm working on a project looking at perceptions on housing and homelessness in Minnesota, so I'll be back for year four of fair survey work!”
Undergrads welcome
While several hundred University graduate students have worked in research at the fair, dozens of undergraduates have also played “recruiter/data collector” roles.
Those students, Hotop says, “bring science to life by actively engaging fairgoers, facilitating informed consent, and collecting precise survey responses and physical measurements.”
It also pays off in career preparation. Because the University of Minnesota is a leading research university, students have endless opportunities to get hands-on experience. And employers are more likely to hire undergraduates with research experience.
The 2026 Minnesota State Fair runs August 27-September 7.
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