Food safety

A few rows of beautiful, fresh lettuce of different varieties in the ground.

Melotto Lab seeks mighty lettuce

  • by Trina Kleist
  • December 20, 2022

Maeli Melotto and her team at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are looking for strains of lettuce that are genetically stronger at resisting bacteria that can make people sick. Their work has led to the identification of a gene that could play a role in the plant’s susceptibility to E. coli, a bacterium that causes potentially lethal intestinal illness.

Sheep graze on winter cover crop at Russell Ranch, UC Davis. (photo Alda Pires)

Does livestock grazing benefit organic crops? Multistate research team explores impacts

  • by Ann Filmer
  • May 20, 2020
To see if livestock grazing is beneficial in organic farming, or poses food safety risks, multistate research partners received a nearly $1 million grant from the USDA to study the impacts of livestock grazing cover crops on the bacterial population dynamics, soil building, and environmental health. Professor Amelie Gaudin, Plant Sciences, is part of the research team.
Beth Mitcham, UC Davis,

Would You Eat Ugly Produce? Beth Mitcham Explains Quality

  • by Ann Filmer
  • October 14, 2019
Postharvest specialist Beth Mitcham, a faculty member in the Plant Sciences department at UC Davis, compares quality and cost of “imperfect” fruits and vegetables to store-bought produce. She notes that imperfect produce can be just as good, less expensive, and reduce food waste. VIDEO: Good Morning America.
Conference chair Maeli Melotto (Plant Sciences professor, UC Davis), Parag Chitnis (USDA NIFA deputy director), Gail Taylor (Plant Sciences chair and professor, UC Davis), and co-chair Allen Van Deynze (Plant Sciences researcher, UC Davis) at the Breeding Crops for Enhanced Food Safety conference at UC Davis.

Breeding Crops for Enhanced Food Safety

  • by Ann Filmer
  • June 18, 2019
Plant breeders and food safety experts held a conference at UC Davis to discuss issues relevant to food safety, including microbial contamination control in produce throughout the food chain (seeds, field production, pre- and postharvest, packaging, distribution, marketing). Conference chair was Professor Maeli Melotto, Plant Sciences, UC Davis.
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