USDA Awards Food Safety Grants

September 21, 2005 — 

The USDA has awarded over $12 million in grants to 16 colleges and universities to "focus on addressing priority food safety issues by integrating applied research, classroom education and outreach to consumers and industry through the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative (NIFSI).

The annual grant program, administered by USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), is open to faculties of all four year colleges and universities with a maximum award of $600,000. The average award for 2005 was $500,000. In announcing the grant awards, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns emphasized that "the research projects will address food safety issues ranging from on-farm production, post-harvest processing and distribution, to food selection, preparation and consumption."

Sources:
USDA Press Release
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2005/09/0388.xml
CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/in_focus/safetyifnational.html