A number of PhD scholarships are currently available for the Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Food Safety in Fresh Produce, funded by the Australian Research Council, which will open next year.
Applications close soon so people interested in undertaking a PhD in this world-leading centre at the University of Sydney are encouraged to apply now.
In 2017, the research centre dedicated to minimising the risk of contamination fresh fruit and vegetables will be launched at the University of Sydney. The Centre, jointly funded by the Australian Research Council and the fresh produce industry, has openings for nine Doctoral students.
Each of the nine PhD candidates will be associated with unique research project co-funded by different industry partners. Projects are designed to address specific knowledge gaps, which have been identified in consultation with industry and research partners.
Research projects will focus on detection and control of microbes, risk minimisation, safe practices across the supply chain, and development of rapid detection methods that will support effective surveillance, and decision-making and response to outbreaks of food-borne illness.
Everyone knows fresh fruit and vegetables are important for health and wellbeing but the effectiveness of production and marketing can be complicated by contamination of fruit and vegetables with food-borne pathogens: examples include the recall of frozen berries in 2015 because of links with Hepatitis A and, more recently, the recall of rockmelons grown in Northern Territory because of Salmonella contamination.
While these outbreaks are rare in Australia, researchers in Australia and New Zealand are actively working to try to better understand these events, and how they can be prevented.
Professor Robyn McConchie from the University of Sydney, who will be leading the new research team, said the ARC Training Centre for Food Safety in the Fresh Produce Industry provided an important opportunity for research and learning. “This project is unique in that industry partners will be actively engaged in the research and will host postgraduate students in their businesses to enable them to gain a better understanding of the food safety risks,” Professor McConchie said.
Application links are via sydney.edu.au/news/agriculture/1271.html
Announcements
Job Offers
- Head Grower Greenhouse Canada
- Post Entry Quarantine Facility Manager
- Economic Policy Officer Agri-Tech Kentucky
- Licensing Manager North America
- Junior Sales Executive
- Fruit Breeder/Trait Discovery Scientist
- General Manager
- Regional Sales Manager – DACH Region
- Country Manager – Italy
- Country Manager – Spain
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 -yesterday
- Fresh produce chain hit by Lakeside Produce’s bankruptcy
- "Affordable organic foods can be produced from commercial aquaponic greenhouse farms"
- "Adhesive tape offers a solution to a common problem in the industry"
- Can cucumbers save a cannabis company?
- UK cucumber growers won't plant until late February or March
Top 5 -last week
- “Black growbags could benefit vegetable crops as well”
- Latvia: First greenhouse to grow cucumbers under LEDs uses landfill waste to produce energy
- "Moisture is the big danger in the next two months"
- US (OH): 80 Acres Farms makes layoffs as tech job crunch continues
- Is ozone effective against ToBRFV?
Top 5 -last month
- How farmers are cutting out supermarkets
- Higher light transmission and lower heat demand with double foil greenhouse
- Combining vertical farming and greenhouse horticulture to decentralize lettuce production
- 30MHz declared bankrupt, curator 'optimistic about restart'
- Fresh produce chain hit by Lakeside Produce’s bankruptcy
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2023-01-24 UK: Nursery, registration, and supervision requirements to move or send plants for planting to the EU or Northern Ireland for non-commercial purposes
- 2023-01-06 99% of foods are below pesticide residue limits says USDA report
- 2023-01-06 From the road to the plate: lettuce takes up toxic additives from tire wear
- 2023-01-03 Exportadora Copramar recalls James Farms frozen raspberries due to possible health risk
- 2023-01-03 USDA restricts PACA violator in Oregon
- 2023-01-03 US: Recall of products due to possible Salmonella contamination
- 2023-01-02 Australia: Open field spinach contaminated and recalled
- 2023-01-02 The Food Safety Agency calls for caution on the Salmonella outbreak that Norway links to Spanish cucumbers
- 2023-01-02 Baby cucumbers linked to salmonella cases in Western Australia
- 2022-12-09 Shannon Illingworth explains why lettuce and spinach keep getting contaminated with E. Coli
- 2022-11-30 Fenix joins forces with Genesis seeds in the battle against the new race of downy mildew
- 2022-11-18 UK: NFU reminds new Defra Secretary of Rishi Sunak's food pledges
- 2022-11-16 Freshfel warning: Food safety can suffer due to rising energy costs
- 2022-10-26 PlantwisePlus training helps Kenyan growers meet KS1758 food safety standard
- 2022-10-21 Food safety monitoring could be more effective
- 2022-10-07 UK: New data highlights that families are purchasing fewer vegetables
- 2022-10-07 CDC says outbreak linked to Wendy’s sandwiches is over
- 2022-09-22 GHGA recalls various ready-to-eat vegetable products due to possible Listeria Monocytogenes contamination
- 2022-09-22 Various brands of salad products recalled due to pieces of plastic
- 2022-09-20 Agriculture Ministers in Prague: EU must strengthen food security
