Cargill, KSU Partner to Study Feed Safety Issues

MINNEAPOLISCargill and Kansas State University announced plans for developing the Cargill Center for Feed Safety Research, which will study food and feed safety issues facing the animal feed industry. The facility will be built in part with a $500,000 grant from Cargill. The facility will be located on the KSU campus in Manhattan, Kansas, and housed in the O.H. Kruse Feed Mill and Bio-refinery. The facility will begin operations in late 2012.

"At present, there is not a single facility in the United States licensed and approved for feed-related research involving Salmonella, E. coli and other common, food-related pathogens. We are thankful that Cargill's contribution helps support the construction of this Kansas State research facility," said Dr. Kirk Schulz, Kansas State University president.

Planned research efforts include feed processing technologies to lower bacterial/viral introduction to animal food livestock operations and the food chain. The laboratory will be capable of conducting food and feed research relating to dangerous and exotic foreign animal diseases.

"Advancements in food safety are one of the biggest focus areas for the industry at the present time," said Chuck Warta, a vice president at Cargill Animal Nutrition. "Feed and feed ingredients are an increasingly critical part of the safe food system. Helping enable this research is an investment that reaches beyond Cargill. The entire animal feed industry will benefit from the continued development of food, feed and feed ingredient safety."