Also see:
Health & Wellbeing –
3.
Animal health and welfare, page 22
4.2
Emerging and zoonotic infections,
page 26
1.3
Food safety
Keywords
Food safety, food-related illness, food microbiology,
zoonoses, epidemiology
Expertise
The University of Liverpool is a recognised centre for
research into the pathogenesis, transmission, public
health impact and control of foodborne zoonoses.
We host the National Centre for Zoonosis
Research (NCZR), which is the world’s first
interdisciplinary research network dedicated to the
study of animal-borne human diseases. As the hub of
a dynamic network, the NCZR undertakes world-class
research into zoonotic infections and is a catalyst for
national and international collaborations.
The University has particular expertise in immunology,
food microbiology, molecular microbiology and
epidemiology. We have been responsible for providing
research evidence for policy-makers on transmission
and control of foodborne disease and the relationship
between animal welfare, stress and foodborne zoonoses.
We also look at the wider social context of food safety
and foodborne disease, for example examining how
animal management systems affect the development
and maintenance of antimicrobial resistance within food
production environments.
Our research also focuses on poultry production systems,
helping chicken farmers to understand how their
production systems, the environment and bird health and
welfare affect the infection of birds with endemic disease
agents such as avian pathogenic
E. Coli
and major
zoonotic agents like Campylobacter and Salmonella.
We work closely with the UK poultry industry, but also
have projects based in Southeast Asia and Africa. We
also collaborate with vaccine companies to assist the
development of inoculations against avian viruses.
Salmonella and Campylobacter cause more than
half a million cases of infection in the UK each year
via contaminated eggs and chicken meat. Our
researchers have shown that birds produced in
highly intensive systems are far more likely to carry
these diseases.
Capabilities and facilities
•
Behavioural isolation unit for behaviour, zoonosis
and infection research
•
Expertise on the diagnosis and control of zoonotic
and endemic poultry diseases
•
Microbiology (food safety) and immunology
laboratories
•
Evaluations and assessments of zoonotic risks
•
Expertise on bird health and welfare and their
impacts on food safety risks.
Relevant centres and groups
•
Centre for Genomic Research
•
National Centre for Zoonosis Research
•
Wood Park Farm
•
Ness Heath Farm.
Food Security & Safety
133
Keywords
Rodents, rats, crop damage, disease, food wastage
Expertise
Rodents are a serious threat to global food security.
Research suggests that even a 5% reduction in the
damage that rodents cause to cereal harvests could help
feed one third of all undernourished people worldwide.
Rodents also spread many livestock and human diseases.
Research on the scent signals of mice and rats, by a
team at the University of Liverpool and Rothamsted
Research, will help inform future rodent-control
strategies to reduce the damage they cause to food
resources around the world.
Our expertise in the study of mammalian behaviour
encompasses specialists in animal behaviour, ecology,
biochemistry, physiology, proteomics, pathology and
molecular genetics. These are being combined to
investigate the scent signal mechanisms that rodents
use to navigate around their habitat, communicate with
each other, and reproduce. By using these signals to
monitor and manipulate rodent behaviour (for example
the mechanisms of sexual attraction or predator evasion),
our research will contribute to new approaches for
better control of the destructive nature of rats and mice.
1.4
Reducing losses in the food chain
Also see:
Health & Wellbeing –
3.
Animal health and welfare, page 22
