Let's learn what's behind the chemistry of the most popular artificial sweetener

Problem: U.S. food testing labs are closely monitoring discussions over proposed legislation regarding food safety. This year, lawmakers could approve more stringent safety standards. That means food laboratories will be looking for efficient and affordable equipment to help them adhere to regulations.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison animal scientist has developed an antibiotic-free method to protect animals raised for food against common infections.

Officials from the city of Zhuhai, China, and the University of California, Davis, signed a memorandum of understanding on May 22 to establish the World Food Center-China.

A family with Cornell University roots nearly 100 years old is helping the school's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences promote safe, high-quality foods well into the 21st century.

In KPMG’S 2014 Food, Drink and Consumer Goods Industry Outlook Survey, 22 percent of the senior  managers questioned said that “staying ahead of or navigating changes in the regulatory environment” would consume most of their time in the coming 12 months. Nearly 20 percent said that geographic expansion would be one of the primary areas of investment in the coming months. Taken  together, these two data points echo a common food industry refrain: we want to expand internationally, but we’re increasingly aware of the difficulties and costs of doing so from a regulatory standpoint.

Nearly half of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. from 1998 through 2008 have been attributed to contaminated fresh produce. Prevention and control of bacterial contamination on fresh produce is critical to ensure food safety. The current strategy remains industrial washing of the product in water containing chlorine. However, due to sanitizer ineffectiveness there is an urgent need to identify alternative antimicrobials, particularly those of natural origin, for the produce industry.

Combining chromosomes from different organisms started as soon as someone created a hybrid. “In natural breeding,” says geneticist Kulvinder S. Gill of Washington State University in Pullman, “we transfer genes through hybridization—transferring pollen from one plant to another.” He adds, “It can, for example, be pollen from wheat to rye or rye to wheat.”

The newly renovated Lasher Laboratory avian diagnostic, disease and research facility was the focus as community members attended an open house held Friday, April 17, at the University of Delaware’s Elbert N. and Ann V. Carvel Research and Education Center in Georgetown, Delaware. 

Vibrio outbreaks have sickened shellfish consumers in Northeast