A cornucopia of research

As the holiday season approaches, kitchens begin to bustle and one question often reigns supreme: What's for dinner?

Regardless of the answer, Ohio State is hard at work to ensure food is safe and healthful. Among its tasks: pioneering salmonella-free eggs and developing a juice that may help prevent cancer.

"We are one of the few major research universities to decide that food is an important, highly socially relevant field of study where all the faculty can contribute," says Prof. Ken Lee, director of Ohio State's Food Innovation Center.

Throughout the university, faculty members are working together to make food safer and more healthful. That's particularly important in a state where food is the largest industry, accounting for $107 billion and one of every seven jobs: Ohio State researchers make their findings open and accessible--so that everyone from the state's 2,000 food-related manufacturers to home cooks can benefit.

Take a look at more food-related innovation from Ohio State:

How cold do you need to keep the fridge? How do you make sure your pets don't transfer foodborne illness? A food safety site created by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and OSU Extension has the answers.
Hungry? Ohio State students have a quick fix: the “Unbeetable Burger"--made of beets--is a frozen meal that can be microwaved bun and all. The burger took first place in the 2012 Student Product Development Competition.
How safe is your salad? Researchers are working on making leafy greens less likely to transmit foodborne illnesses like E. coli.
Good news for farmers: OARDC recently won a national award for addressing the threat of soybean rust. Untreated, the rust can lead to major crop losses.