Advances in Food Science and Safety

At UGA, researchers are striving to supply not only an abundance of food for a growing population, but to ensure the safety and quality of that food supply. Faculty discover new ways to minimize pathogens, increase safety practices, and bring innovative products to market by exploring the following topics:

  • Food Safety
  • Nutrition and Quality
  • Food Science Advances
  • Impacts for Consumer Behavior
     

Food Science and Safety Research News

Staking tomatoes CAES News
Help your tomato plants stand tall: Staking and pruning homegrown tomato plants
Now that we’ve announced the winners of the tomato sandwich slicer showdown and your plants are taking off, it’s time to address our first tomato gardening issue: supporting unwieldy tomato plants through staking and pruning. For the best chance at productive plants with healthy fruit, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension consumer horticulturalist Bob Westerfield urges home gardeners to invest in providing plants a strong support structure all season long. “No other vegetable comes close to bearing as much produce in such a limited space,” Westerfield said.
Selecting heirloom collard plants. CAES News
CAES collaborates with grassroots organizations to steward heirloom collards
The Heirloom Collards Project is a nationwide, community-driven effort to preserve and evolve heirloom collard varieties through seed saving, education and collaborative research. The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has joined the effort to promote seed sovereignty and strengthen resilient food systems across the South, engaging students in hands-on seed stewardship.
A native, southeastern blueberry bee pollinates a blueberry blossom. CAES News
Wild bees crucial to Georgia’s blueberry success, CAES research shows
Long before a ripe blueberry makes it into a grocery cart or muffin mix, a native bee has likely played a quiet but critical role in its journey. Now, thanks to a robust study on wild bee diversity in blueberry fields, we know more about just how essential those wild pollinators are to one of the state’s most valuable fruit crops. Sarah Rezende, a doctoral candidate in entomology at the University of Georgia, is working to uncover what Georgia’s wild bees need to thrive — and how their movements shape the productivity of commercial blueberry farms.
Post-harvest pecan handling