UC Davis joins new food safety research network which will share $5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture

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Sacramento Business Journal - 10:53 AM PST Monday
UC Davis joins new food safety research network

The University of California Davis is one of 18 U.S. colleges and universities that will share $5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a Food Safety Research and Response Network.

The network, led by North Carolina State University in Raleigh, will include more than 50 food safety experts who will investigate food-related illness, the department said. They'll look at pathogens like e.coli, salmonella and campylobactor to learn where they're found in the environment, how they endure and how they infect herds.

The department also said it would redirect almost $2 million in funding to bolster research on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease.

The two ventures will improve U.S. food safety by strengthening research partnerships with academics, said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in a statement, "and establish another tool to aid our response to food-related disease outbreaks."

Besides UC Davis and North Carolina State, the other institutions in the network are Cornell University, Iowa State University, McMasters University, Mississippi State University, North Dakota State University, The Ohio State University, Tuskegee University, University of Arizona, University of California Berkeley, University of Florida, University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota, University of Montreal, Washington State University, and West Texas A&M University.