Center for Produce Safety Announces Call for Research Proposals

The Center for Produce Safety (CPS) today announced its 2018 request for preliminary proposals on food safety research. The Center and its public and industry research partners will fund general and commodity-specific research aimed at addressing the fresh produce industry's food safety research needs. $3M will be available to fund approved projects.?"The mission for the Center for Produce Safety is to provide and share ready-to-use, science-based solutions to prevent or minimize produce safety vulnerabilities. In an effort to address current food safety challenges the Center For Produce Safety endeavors to identify high-priority research needs,"?said Drew McDonald, VP, Quality & Food Safety at Taylor Fresh Farms, and Chair for the CPS Technical Committee (picture).?"The input and insight from the stakeholders has been incredible. We heard clearly the need for greater specificity in our?research priorities?and to continue engaging with researchers who truly want to understand the realities of our processes and products."The 2018 produce safety research objectives have been identified through solicitation of input from the produce industry as well as government and academic stakeholders. ?In addition, feedback from CPS Symposium participants and reviews of previously funded CPS grants and research outcomes were utilized to identify research objectives. The research objectives have been reviewed and revised by the CPS Technical Committee.??A link to the complete list of research priorities is posted on the home page of the CPS website at?www.centerforproducesafety.org. ? "We encourage scientists who have an interest in partnering with CPS to contact us, ask questions about the proposal process, research priorities and CPS expectations of funded scientists," said Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli, CPS Executive Director. " Questions may be emailed to?research@centerforproducesafety.org?or call the CPS office -?(530) 554-9706 ? To access the 2018 CPS Research Priorities and 2018 RFP Pre-proposal Guidance document, visit the?Grant Opportunities?page on the CPS website. ?Preliminary proposals are due by 12:00 noon Pacific, Tuesday, November 14, 2017. ? View 2018 CPS Research Priorities ?