Congressman meets with young robotics stars from Chadds Ford Elementary and Patton Middle School
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-16) meets with 6th graders Austin Hwa, CJ McClure, Jonathan Nguyen, KC Simmons and Dev Singh from Charles F. Patton Middle School and 4th grader Thomas McClure from Chadds Ford Elementary School.
WASHINGTON D.C.– Rep. Joe Pitts (PA-16) met Tuesday with students from Chadds Ford Elementary and Charles F. Patton Middle School who participated in this year’s First Lego League tournament. First Lego League is a competition that couples robotic design and competition with scientific and public policy research.
This year’s theme for the First Lego League is food safety. The cleverly named Chef Bot-Ardee team won their qualifying tournament at Oxford High School and recently participated in the Champion’s Tournament in Delaware. The team’s research project looked at storing food at safe temperatures in the home and how government and business could encourage safe refrigerators.
“It was wonderful to meet with bright young people studying engineering, software design, and public policy,” said Rep. Pitts. “They worked hard to build and program their robot and also researched the roles government and business play in keeping our food supply safe.”
The Chef Bot-Ardee team looked at how improper home refrigerator temperature could lead to spoiled and unsafe food. They recommended that refrigerator manufacturers and the Food and Drug Administration improve technology and communication to make it easier to store food at the ideal temperature. Today, the team was visiting the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service to discuss their project and recommendations.
“As Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, we have oversight of Food and Drug Administration food safety programs. This year, we’ve been pushing the FDA to make sure that commercial trucks are transporting food at safe temperatures,” said Rep. Pitts. “The Chef Bot-Ardee team reminds us that all too often the home can be the weak link in the food safety chain.”
