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Request for Proposals.

May 13, 2009
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Davis, Calif., May 13, 2009 – The Center for Produce Safety at UC Davis (CPS) today announced a request for research proposals (RFP) to address both general and commodity-specific research questions related to fresh produce safety.

The new RFP –CPS’s largest to date– is the product of collaboration among public agencies and private industry to streamline research questions and maximize the impact of individual research budgets.

Both the scope of the RFP and the robust budget of $2 million reflect CPS’s ongoing mission to leverage public and private expertise and research dollars to address critical risk management issues in the growth, harvest, processing and distribution of fresh produce.

Based on enthusiastic response to its recent “Partners in Research” RFP, CPS identified industry partners with overlapping research needs and offered them the opportunity to collectively match funds provided by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) - Specialty Crop Block Grant and the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources (UC-ANR).

The RFP seeks to fund research projects that address critical safety questions affecting the fresh produce industry generally, while at the same time asking researchers to study knowledge gaps specific to commodities that have been associated with illness outbreaks over the past 48 months, including tomatoes, melons and pistachios.

“We created CPS to streamline and accelerate research into this industry’s most vexing questions,” said Tim York, Chairman of CPS and President of Markon Cooperative. “This RFP speaks volumes about our progress—and that of our industry partners.”

In addition to CDFA - SCBG and UC-ANR, partners in the RFP include:
• Almond Board of California, www.almondboard.org
• California Melon Research Board/California Cantaloupe Advisory Board, www.cmrb.org
• California Pistachio Research Board, www.calpistachioresearch.org
• California Walnut Commission, www.walnuts.org
• Florida Tomato Committee, www.floridatomatoes.org
• Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, www.treefruitresearch.com

The RFP’s general research priorities were developed and refined by the CPS Technical Committee, an independent advisory board including experts from industry, academia, government and NGOs. The targeted research priorities were co-developed with the industry partners.

The full RFP is available at the Center for Produce Safety Web site at www.centerforproducesafety.org. All qualified research professionals are eligible to apply for CPS funding.

Proposals should be submitted by July 1, 2009 through the CPS Grant System Web site at https://ucanr.org/cpsgrants/. (The grant system is also accessible from the CPS Web site.) Awards will be announced on or before October 1, 2009. Projects will be funded from October 1, 2009 to December 31, 2011.

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