FEEDING OUR WORLD
Programs in this area encompass all aspects of avian physiology and the built environment that surrounds them and affects bird growth, health, welfare and ultimately product quality including nutritional quality, sensory quality, food safety and shelf-life.
Program 1: Reduce morbidity and mortality to increase meat yield – This program aims to reduce the numbers of birds needed to produce the world’s poultry meat and egg supply.
Faculty – Greg Archer, Chris Bailey, Luc Berghman, David Caldwell, Tri Duong, Jason Lee, Suresh Pillai, Rosemary Walzem
Program 2: Improved feed efficiency – This program aims to reduce the cost of producing poultry meat and eggs as well as the amounts of feed needed to produce the same amount of food. These efforts also have positive environmental impacts reducing crop acreage and water needed for poultry meat and egg production.
Faculty – Greg Archer, Chris Bailey, David Caldwell, Tri Duong, Jason Lee, Rosemary Walzem
Program 3: Mitigation strategies to reduce poultry product food borne pathogens or toxins – This program aims to produce highest quality poultry products with enhance food safety.
Faculty – Christine Alvarado, Chris Bailey, David Caldwell, Tri Duong, Audrey McElroy, Suresh Pillai
Program 4: Strategies for improved food product storage – This program aims to stabilize poultry meat and eggs at their highest sensory and safety levels for increased amounts of time. This program is crucial because currently 50% of global food is wasted due to spoilage, moreover, consumption of spoiled foods is bad for human health. The most expeditious way to increase food availability is to reduce spoilage.
Faculty – Christine Alvarado, Craig Coufal, Tri Duong, Suresh Pillai, Rosemary Walzem
PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT
Research programs to protect and improve environmental impact of poultry production have provided the poultry industry with a wide variety of means to reduce the environmental impact of poultry production. These include precision feeding of important nutrients, increasing bioavailability of nutrients, reducing nutrient excretion, methods to reduce the amount and volatility of residual products, and irradiation of residuals to eliminate pathogens.
Program 1: Environmental stewardship. Methods and practices have been widely adopted by the industry. These researchers are widely recognized as leaders in the field as evidenced by literature citations, invited presentations and industry consultations.
Faculty – Chris Bailey, Craig Coufal, Tri Duong, Audrey McElroy, Jason Lee, Suresh Pillai
IMPROVING OUR HEALTH
This field of research covers both pre and post-harvest methods to reduce the level and incidence of pathogen contamination of poultry carcasses and products.
Program 1: Poultry product food safety. Technologies researched include probiotic/prebiotic therapies, ebeam irradiation, vaccination technologies, health management strategies, biosecurity, emergency disease management and post-harvest treatments. The work of this group is widely cited and they are highly sought after for individual interaction with industry decision-makers and invited presentations throughout the world.
Faculty – David Caldwell, Luc Berghman, Tri Duong, Suresh Pillai, Audrey McElroy, Sanjay Reddy, Christine Alvarado