Advances in Food Science and Safety

In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly established June 7 as World Food Safety Day to bring awareness of foodborne risks and “to celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food.” With 25 faculty members involved in food safety microbiology, the University of Georgia has one of the largest teams of food safety researchers of any university. Their research and collaboration efforts contribute to a growing body of knowledge that ensures producers and consumers have the latest information about food safety.

With a climbing global population that continues to grow since surpassing 8 billion in 2022, steadily rising food prices, changing consumer preferences and growing interest in more sustainable production methods, the challenges to the world’s food systems continue to intensify. World-renowned food processing and engineering faculty in the University of Georgia Department of Food Science and Technology are training and inspiring the next generation of food scientists to blaze trails in their research and answer the questions the future of food will bring. 

The University of Georgia is launching the Value-Addition Institute for Business Expansion, or VIBE, a new center for rural food business assistance and resources headed by professors from the Department of Food Science and Technology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. VIBE is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Innovation Center.