Center for Animal Health and Food Safety launches new program structure

The world’s most pressing issues— increases in global population size, food insecurity, social inequality, and environmental deterioration—cannot be addressed through a single lens.

The Center for Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) works to harmonize our programs and projects to tackle these problems from many angles. As a part of the University of Minnesota—a land-grant institution with a mission of research, teaching, and outreach—it is vital that our work traverse all three of these areas to build an interconnected workforce and world.

CAHFS creates and implements meaningful solutions that pinpoint core problems, build efficient partnerships, generate valuable research, translate research into education, and provide sustainable solutions. The Center does all of this with the focus of animal, human, and environmental health—as well as their many intersections— in mind. Since our inception, we have strived to address One Health issues at their root, through a goal of capacity building and development.

As the educational and developmental requirements of communities around us continue to evolve, CAHFS is evolving to best address those needs. As we enter a new fiscal year under the leadership of a new director, Andrés Perez, DVM, PhD, CAHFS is comprised of five programmatic units that work together to address problems related to food safety and security: Health, Evaluation, Leadership, and Policy; International Research and Development; Data Analysis and Research; eLearning; and the Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency.

The Center for Animal Health and Food Safety’s primary goal is to protect and enhance food safety, food security, and economic growth by promoting sustainable production practices and fair trade of agricultural products—locally and globally. This hefty objective requires expansive networks, relationships, programs, and activities. It also demands strong bi-directional partnerships, leveraging the strengths of all parties involved in order to build more educated and equitable communities.

Many developing communities face a limitation in capacity—they don’t have the resources required to easily access local and international markets and reach international standards. CAHFS functions as a consulting partner in finding and implementing sustainable resources for these communities—we provide an objective perspective that helps these nations to rethink how they look at their own context.

As a collaborating center of the World Organisation for Animal Health for veterinary service capacity building, CAHFS programs help our local and global partners develop and grow, rather than provide temporary solutions to big problems. “Metaphorically, we are teaching people how to effectively fish in their own waters, rather than giving them some of our fish,” says Perez. “We are helping all communities reach long-term, self-sustaining solutions.”

Our Impact

Check out our new video to learn how CAHFS is addressing One Health issues at their root through a goal of capacity building and development.