Features

Livia Sente, a graduate student in the Department of Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics (FARE), brings a unique perspective to her academic life, which stems from her interdisciplinary approach to looking at the ‘big picture’.

“I enjoy seeing the whole picture, asking the bigger questions, and getting involved with multiple areas instead of specialization,” she shares. “Specialization is undeniably valuable, but so is a better understanding of the bigger puzzle that we are looking at and how everything is interconnected.”

To celebrate Food Day Canada, we're shining a light on Canadian cuisine. We asked experts in the Ontario Agricultural College, "What does food mean to you?" and to share some of their favourite recipes that highlight local ingredients that can be grown in Canada or found at a farmers' market.

Food Day Canada is a great opportunity to enjoy food, make food, and learn about food. Check out our featured experts and ingredients below.

Two new asparagus varieties developed at the University of Guelph and now available to growers are expected to further improve the asparagus industry in Ontario, building on a transformational variety introduced by U of G two decades ago.

When the Guelph Millennium asparagus variety was introduced to Ontario growers more than 20 years ago, it quickly became a game-changer.

A second run of a beer made with wild yeast collected during a “yeast safari” on the University of Guelph campus proved just as popular as the first, selling out quickly after going on sale this past spring.

Experimental Farm Ale was created using yeast discovered on the U of G campus and was re-launched this past June in concert with U of G’s alumni weekend by Guelph’s own Royal City Brewing Co.

Rav Singh (B.Sc. in Natural Resource Management, 2016) is an advocate for food, climate, and environmental justice. She is the founder of Shade of Miti, a food and climate justice organization in Mississauga. We recently chatted with her about her role and the importance of creating sustainable and accessible food systems in the community. 

A newly discovered species of Listeria has been named to honour a University of Guelph food scientist and food safety expert who has made significant contributions to understanding these bacteria.

The name of the new species, Listeria farberi, recognizes the work of Dr. Jeffrey Farber, an adjunct professor of food microbiology in U of G’s Department of Food Science.

Continue reading "New Listeria Species Named for U of G Food Scientist" here.

A research project aimed at the early detection and prevention of enteric and food-borne illnesses has received $1.15 million from the Ontario Research Fund (ORF).

The funding is the province’s contribution to a project valued at nearly $6.5 million.

Led by Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, a professor in the Department of Food Science, the three-year project is focused on using genomic science in the rapid detection of food-borne illness outbreaks – through a combination of wastewater monitoring and the monitoring of social media for keywords associated with specific illnesses.

A spicy hot sauce grown, brewed and bottled by University of Guelph food science students will be back again this year and this time it will be accompanied by a bold new sister sauce.

CannonFire – named in honour of Old Jeremiah, the naval gun that’s become a landmark on the U of G campus – will be back on sale again this winter, with students planning to bottle and sell more bottles than ever.

Crystal Mackay, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’93 is a well-known advocate for Canadian food and farming. She was recently named the Food Day Canada Coordinator. We chatted with her to learn more about Food Day Canada and her University of Guelph experience.

That silky, gold-coloured tuft you normally discard along with your corncob husks is worth more than you think.

For the first time, a team of University of Guelph researchers has shown corn silks naturally contain diverse microbes, a finding that may point to a new strategy to protect the cob from fungal infections.

Their discovery of this corn silk microbiome may help improve breeding and farming practices to avert costly and harmful fungal outbreaks, protect one of the world’s three most important food crops and increase food security globally.