March 18, 2018 – Additional laboratories will provide the capability to characterize the chemical, physical, sensory and microbial components found in the meat, dairy, fruit, and vegetable products produced on the PVAMU Farm.  These laboratories will not only support the research carried out on the PVAMU campus but will also serve as a resource for extension outreach efforts to provide training and analytical services for the clients that our Cooperative Extension Program agents serve.  The laboratories will be located in the Cooperative Agriculture Research Center and the new Agriculture-Business Building.

The Food Systems Group is currently focusing on the development of research laboratories that will provide the infrastructure for value-added research.  The research group currently has expertise in understanding some of the lipid and protein components found in goat’s milk that can improve human health.  Research has also begun on the characterization of vegetables and fruits that are currently grown at the farm.  In addition to these efforts, the sensory laboratory is currently being renovated to provide the capability to carry out the sensory characterization of foods also.   

The Cooperative Agriculture Research Center on the campus of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) is organized in different research units; each with own area of specialty related to agriculture in the State of Texas.  Three of these units are focused on food production, Environmental and Natural Resources, Animal Sciences and Plant Sciences; and the other on the Social Science aspects of agriculture and foods, Social Systems and Allied Research.  The one group that bridges these two groups is Food Systems with a research focus on the conversion of the food from the farm to the consumer.  What is now needed is to continue the work to the laboratories needed to carry out the efforts of the research group.  Work needs to continue to complete the development of the food characterization and the sensory laboratories.  Two additional laboratories also need to be completed; one for microbiological research that will include both food safety and general food microbiology research and a food processing laboratory to investigate the impact of processing on the nutritional, sensory, safety and shelf life properties of foods.

Dr. Deland Myers
Deland J. Myers, Sr. Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Food Systems Research
(936) 261-5082
djmyers@pvamu.edu

NIFA supported this research through Evans-Allen funding.