The University of Georgia has received a $700,000 grant from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety to help improve food safety in Senegal’s dairy industry.
The project is part of a larger $2.9 million parent grant from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety, based at Cornell and Purdue Universities and funded by USAID as part of Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative.
Led by Manpreet Singh, professor in the UGA Department of Poultry Science and interim head of the Department of Food Science and Technology, the project will raise awareness of food safety issues, create training programs for dairy operators and coordinate comprehensive food safety regulations in the country. Jessica Marter-Kenyon, a post-doctoral researcher who serves as the Peanut Innovation Lab’s gender specialist also is a leader on the team.
The project aims to enhance economic development in rural areas by organizing small dairy producers — who are predominantly women — and providing research and training to support and strengthen food safety in the value chain and to overcome barriers to the adoption of food safety practices, Singh said.