Author
 |
Van Hekken, Diane |
|
Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2006 Publication Date: 5/9/2006 Citation: Van Hekken, D.L. 2006. Over 100 years of milk and dairy foods research by the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (Abstract) American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting. J Dairy Sci.(Suppl.l):459. Interpretive Summary: N/A Technical Abstract: Over the past 100 years, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has performed research to benefit the public good and the milk and dairy food industries. With the creation of the Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry in 1895, USDA began conducting research on understanding and improving the quality and production of milk, butter, and cheese. As the research programs grew in scope, the division became the Bureau of Dairy Industry in 1924. In 1940, milk research was moved to the newly opened Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC), Wyndmoor, PA while the products research remained in Washington, DC. In 1955, all dairy research programs were transferred to the newly created Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Research was conducted at the Wyndmoor, PA and Washington, DC sites until 1974, when all milk and dairy products research was consolidated at ERRC. USDA chemists, engineers, food scientists, microbiologists, and molecular biologists have published over 1,800 scientific papers, proceedings, book chapters, and patents on all aspects of milk and dairy products. Their basic and applied research has pioneered the development of much of the scientific instrumentation, analytical methodologies, and processing technologies that are still used in dairy research and by the dairy industries today. USDA scientists were charter members of American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) and continue their involvement as members, symposia organizers, elected officers, and board members. They continue to publish extensively in the Journal of Dairy Science and have been the recipients of several ADSA awards. Today, the Dairy Processing & Products Research Unit (DPPRU), with its mission to apply knowledge of the chemistry, biochemistry, and microbiology of milk to the development of new uses to increase its utilization, nutritional value, markets and assure its safety and biosecurity, continues to conduct basic and applied research on milk and milk products. While the research emphasis has shifted from improving the quality and production of bulk milk products to the new frontier of understanding the molecular basis for their properties, the main goal of the DPPRU is to conduct research that benefits the public good as it was over 100 years ago. |
