Notable Notes

Staff Service Awards

The department hosted a staff service awards reception on March 28, complete with lots of ice cream and toppings. Abbas Ahmadi, Martin Dally, Susie Reichel and Dan Sehnert all received 20 year pins while Deborah Grossman and Chris Craig-Veit were honored for 25 years of service to the university and department.

Eggceptional Update

In the late 1980s, egg industry leaders in California requested a program to assure the production of safe eggs and to address concerns about egg safety. Animal Science poultry specialist Ralph Ernst represented the University of California on that first industry/agency committee. Since 1995, when the first plans were developed and approved, hundreds of producers have completed the California Egg Quality Assurance Program. Recently the program was a co-recipient with California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory of a $218,000 FDA grant to conduct a three-year study of Salmonella enteritidis in eggs. The program also completed a 16-month field study that included 91% of all the known egg layer ranches in the state. Finally, UC Davis is participating in two FDA committees to develop and implement the "Egg Safety Action Plan," the first federal program regulating food-borne pathogens at the farm level. For more information: Ralph Ernst, Poultry Specialist Department of Animal Science (530) 752-3513 or email him at raernst@ucdavis.edu .