With much attention given to food safety issues in China these days, California and Chinese universities are teaming up to do something about it. The University of California at Davis and China's Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University in Shaanxi province this week signed an agreement to establish the Sino-U.S. Joint Research Center for Food Safety.

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Officials from each university signed a memorandum of agreement during a ceremony at Yinchuan, China. High-ranking officials from China's Ministry of Science and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture also attended the ceremony.

"We are incredibly pleased to join forces with Northwest A&F University and look forward to making discoveries and realizing solutions that will promote food safety in China and around the world," said Linda Katehi, UC Davis chancellor.

Wu Pute, Northwest A&F vice-president and Harris Lewin, UC Davis vice chancellor of research signed the landmark agreement. Catherine Woteki, USDA undersecretary for research, education and economics and Zhang Laiwu, and officials with the China Ministry of Science and Technology attended the ceremony.

The agreement is in effect for five years during which the universities will conduct joint food safety research and development. Chinese funding will be substantial while the UC Davis World Food Center finds a research coordinator for the project. More details about funding will be disclosed in three months. The World Food Center and China will split the cost of the director's salary.

Roger Beachy, UC Davis World Food center executive director, said the new center came about following successful research collaborations between U.S. and Chinese scientists, adding, "Working closely with Chinese scientists and policymaker, the new center will have significant impacts on food safety in China and elsewhere around the globe."

Particular areas for research will be in dairy safety and food traceability, both crucial in protecting the public from food-borne diseases and tracking food issues in China, which has more than 220 million small farms of five acres or less.

Beachy said the partnership will benefit China food safety while allowing UC Davis to benefit from cutting-edge Chinese technology, paving the way for introduction of more California farm products to reach the Chinese market.

The recent spate of food safety challenges in China provided impetus for the project.

Meat supplied by Shanghai Husi Food company to McDonald's, Burger King and Starbucks in China was found to be unsafe and the supplier was shut down following television exposes of workers carelessly handling meat and selling it after expiration dates.

A 2008 dairy scandal in China revolved around melamine-contaminated milk that sickened more than 290,000 people and killed six infants.

Tagsfood safety, China food safety, UC Davis, China-US relations, US-China Relationship, dairy safety