Consumer and producer interest in food production systems continues to rise, partly in response to media reports, books and movies on how food is produced, and in response to recent food recalls and food-borne illnesses. These UC Davis faculty and staff members have expertise on topics related to food production and food safety, nutrition and health, organic and sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, biotechnology, and food production economics.

Consumer education

Community Food Systems -- Gail Feenstra is a community food systems analyst with the UC Davis-based Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). She is the lead researcher on U.S. Department of Agriculture and other grants studying community food security, including shopping at local farmers markets, the economic health of small regional farmers, and community food policy councils. She also addresses nutrition education, and the comparative costs of locally produced and long-distance shipped foods. Contact: Gail Feenstra, SAREP, (530) 752-8408, cmbruhn@ucdavis.edu.

Food Processing, Food Safety and Biotechnology -- Sharon Shoemaker, director of UC Davis’ California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research, can address topics related to food processing, food biotechnology and functional foods. She facilitates technology exchange between the food and agricultural industries and UC Davis, particularly products related to health and well-being, biotechnology approaches, sustainable practices, food waste utilization and food safety. Contact: Sharon Shoemaker, Food Science and Technology, work (530) 752-2922, cell (530) 848-6733, gmyoung@ucdavis.edu.

Dairy Food Safety -- Professor James Cullor is director of the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, a School of Veterinary Medicine program located in Tulare, the top dairy-producing county in the United States, and of the Dairy Food Safety Laboratory. Cullor can discuss food safety and security issues on dairies that influence animal health and well-being, public health and ecosystem health. His research interests include pulsed-laser and microwave technologies for inactivating microbes in milk and other food products, rapid diagnostic tests for infectious diseases that can affect animals and people, food animal vaccines, mammary gland defenses and neonatal immunology. He is responsible for developing an important vaccine to prevent mastitis, which is a bacterial infection of the cow’s udder, and a DNA-based test to screen for contaminants in animal feed. Contact: James Cullor, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, (559) 688-1731 ext. 202, mitchell@uckac.edu.

Groundwater Contamination -- Thomas Harter, an expert on the effects of agriculture on groundwater quality, holds the Robert M. Hagan Endowed Chair in Water Management and Policy. Harter can discuss confined animal facilities such as dairies and feed lots, groundwater contaminants such as nitrates from fertilizer, pathogens such as Cryptosporidium parvum, E. coli, and Salmonella, and emerging concerns including antibiotics, hormones and other pharmaceuticals. He also has expertise on salt intrusion in deep aquifers, surface water and groundwater resource management, and computer modeling of groundwater basins and pollution. Harter is director of the UC Cooperative Extension Groundwater Hydrology Program. Contact: Thomas Harter, Land, Air and Water Resources, (530) 752-2709, aemitchell@ucdavis.edu.

Pesticides in Foods -- Carl Winter researches the detection of pesticides and naturally occurring toxins in foods, how to assess their risks and how to use the science in the regulatory decision-making process. His recent work includes looking at the relationships between crop production systems and naturally occurring toxins (organic versus conventional). Contact: Carl Winter, Food Science and Technology, (530) 752-5448, cbtucker@ucdavis.edu.

Livestock Welfare -- Carolyn Stull, a UC Cooperative Extension animal welfare specialist in the School of Veterinary Medicine, specializes in the welfare of domestic large animals. Her studies have focused on the impact of extreme weather on dairy cattle and the physiological responses of horses to long-distance transportation. She assisted in developing a program to certify and label food products that meet animal-welfare standards, launched by the Certified Humane Raised and Handled program. Contact: Carolyn Stull, Veterinary Medicine Extension, (530) 752-0855, jmaas@ucdavis.edu.

How Ranchers Keep Beef Healthy -- James Oltjen is a Cooperative Extension livestock specialist in the animal science department. He can discuss management practices that ranchers use to protect their herds against a variety of health problems. He provides educational programs for beef cattle producers through a “Beef Quality Assurance Program.” Contact: James Oltjen, Animal Science, (530) 752-5650,kjbradford@ucdavis.edu.

Organic Farming and Biotechnology -- Pam Ronald can comment on applications of biotechnology to rice and other crops and the significance of sequencing the rice genome. She is the co-author of “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food.” Contact: Pamela Ronald, Plant Pathology, (530) 752-1654, mrcgreenwood@ucdavis.edu. (Greenwood will be at UC Davis only through July 2009; after that contact Melanie Funes, executive associate director, Foods for Health Institute, 530-752-9211, klonsky@primal.ucdavis.edu.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science -- and advanced degrees from six professional schools -- Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.