WCFS & WIFSS @ Work eNewsletter (January

eNewsletter, January-March 2021

May 2017 | WCFS & WIFSS Newsletter

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Greetings,

We've been hard at work these past few months making food safer and more secure. Please have a look at where we've been. We hope you find it informative. Stop by our websites at either www.wcfs.ucdavis.edu or www.wifss.ucdavis.edu. Thank you for your continued support!

WCFS & WIFSS
University of California, Davis

Go to: Meetings | Outreach | News |

MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES

UC Davis Education Conference on One Health for Food Safety and Animal Health | January 25 – February 5, 2021 | Virtual

The groundbreaking UC Davis Education Conference on One Health for Food Safety and Animal Health, held online January 25 – February 5, 2021, included 70 participants from nine universities and the veterinary industry in China. For the first time, the proportion of graduate students outnumbered the undergraduate students, and for the first time, veterinarians from the private industry attended the conference. In addition, one member of the faculty from a university attended the conference.

The groundbreaking International Young Scholars One Health Forum held each afternoon of the two-week conference featured an international cast of professors and young scholars from the field of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science and Food Science from around the world. Speakers reported outstanding scientific research results and talked about their understandings of One Health from the perspective of their professions. There were 17 faculty speakers and 29 graduate student speakers.

Undergraduate students experienced the traditional conference team-building exercises during the afternoons where they joined fellow undergraduate students from multiple colleges to work together solving a complex One Health issue of their choice. WIFSS One Health conferences introduce students to the concept of the inter-relationship of people, animals, and the environment for improving the health for all. Lectures given during the morning sessions by UC Davis professors and key subject matter experts provide an exercise in critical thinking from a multidisciplinary approach, aiding participants in taking creative approaches for addressing important societal problems.

WIFSS was fortunate for the first time in conference history to have the sponsorship of a private company helping off-set costs for student enrollment. We thank RedDog cat and dog health, a brand of pet nutritional supplements founded in 2013, for stepping up as a Platinum level sponsor.

Another first was the addition of a highly acclaimed Clinical Day which was attended by 11,374 students and veterinarians throughout China on five broadcast platforms. The 11th UC Davis One Health Conference - Young Scholars Forum Clinical Veterinary Special Event, sponsored by RedDog, featured 1) Bennie Osburn, Director, Outreach and Training, UC Davis WIFSS, speaking about Veterinary Medicine Plays Key Role in One Health; 2) Demitria Vasilatis, Resident Doctor, UC Davis; DVM, University of Florida lecturing about the Use of Clinical Pathology in Animal Health and Food Safety; 3) Feng Yu, Associate Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University; DVM, University of California, Davis, speaking on the topic of Small Animal Blood Banks and Clinical Application; 4) Chiyu Guan, Associate Professor, College of Animal Science & Technology · College of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University; DVM, Kansas State University lecturing about Small Animal Nutrition by; and 5) Bo Liu, Associate Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University; DVM, Kansas State University, talking about Current Surgery Options for Mitral Valve Regurgitation.

The conference concluded in a final day celebration that included team presentations by undergraduate student teams, essay reports given by ten graduate students on One Health as it relates to their field of research, and the distribution of the certificates of completion.

Lingtao Pan, a Ph.D. student in veterinary medicine at China Agricultural University, stated in her testimonial of the conference: “I think One Health should be a basic idea for solving all the problems since mankind is a community with a shared future. If we care about ourselves and those who we love, we must also care about other people around us, the animals providing products for us, and the environment we live in, which can be the whole planet on a large scale. Now we are all at risk because of the Covid-19 epidemic regardless of nationality; of course we should work together based on One Health to overcome the difficulties. And I believe we will win.”

OUTREACH AND TRAINING

Food Safety and Manure Application Webinar | March 19, 2021 | Virtual

The Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community (LPELC) offered the Food Safety and Manure Application webinar on March 19, 2021, which featured three experts from across the U.S. who shared federal guidelines related to use of animal manures for food production, as well as practices that promote food safety while using animal manures. Michele Jay-Russell presented "Multistate Study of Human Foodborne Pathogens in Untreated Poultry Litter and Cattle Manure". Also presenting were Manan Sharma, USDA-ARS, and Tommy Bass, Montana State University.

The webinar was supported in part by the USDA - National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For video of the presentations, including questions and answers from the audience and links to PD presentation slides, see the event webpage: https://lpelc.org/food-safety-and-manure-application/.

Preparation of romaine lettuce beds prior to application of BSAAOs to measure E. coli die-off and potential transfer to lettuce plants. Photo of field prep was taken at DREC in Holtville, CA.

UCCE Imperial Vegetable Crops and IPM Webinar| February 25, 2021 | Virtual

Michele Jay-Russell was invited as a panelist and speaker during the annual University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Imperial County Vegetable Crops and Integrated Pest Management (IMP) Workshop (Webinar). The Workshop is normally held as an in-person field day at the UCANR Desert Research and Extension Center (DREC), but due to the pandemic restrictions, it was held virtually this year. Jay Russell presented preliminary results from WCFS research at DREC related to biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAO) entitled, Pre-harvest survival of E. coli during romaine lettuce production in the Desert. She joined 12 other speakers and panelists from UC Davis, UCCE, DREC, Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association, and the California Leafy Greens Research Program to share recent studies and programs in vegetable production and pest management.
Read more: http://ceimperial.ucanr.edu/newsletters/Ag_Briefs88706.pdf

NEWS

Study hopes for results over the long term

Tom Karst from The Packer reports on a multi-year WCFS study in partnership with FDA, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and agricultural stakeholders in the Central Coast of California. The purpose of the study is to foster enhanced understanding of the ecology of human pathogens in the environment that may cause foodborne illness outbreaks.
Jennifer McEntire, vice president of food safety for the United Fresh Produce Association, is quoted: “It’s really a detailed attempt to gain a detailed understanding of the growing environment, the factors that we’ve hypothesized about, and put some data to them.”

WCFS is currently recruiting industry participants from the central coast. For more information, click on the image below to see a larger version.

Disclaimer: This website is supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1,999,000 with 34% financed by other governmental agencies and 6% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit FDA.gov.

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WCFS/WIFSS · 1477 Drew Ave, Ste 101 · Davis, CA 95618 · USA