The International Joint Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety was established in September, 2017. The laboratory is an international platform for cooperation in interdisciplinary research. The lab focuses its research on the fields of “healthy breeding of livestock and poultry” and “safety on animal-derived food”. Through research on prevention and control of animal diseases, control of animal-derived zoonotic diseases, improvement of animal-derived-food quality, animal-derived-food processing technology, and product safety, the researchers of the lab have made significant contributions to the healthy development of China's breeding industry and food safety, and to the health of and harmony between people, animals and the environment.
The lab has established eight research teams focusing on three research areas, which are disease control and food safety, digestive nutrition and animal product quality, meat quality safety and nutrition. Working in the lab are 106 full-time researchers, including 27 overseas researchers. The lab has all kinds of talents and innovation teams, such as the “IAFOST Fellow”, the “IFT Fellow”, the “AAAS Fellow”, winners of the “National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars” and of the “National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars” , chief experts of the National "973" programs, and research innovation teams of the Ministry of Agriculture. Nine scholars are serving in a series of international organizations, 12 as deputy editors or editors of international academic journals. So far, the lab has hosted 21 domestic or international academic conferences.
Up to now, the Chinese researchers in the laboratory have paid 96 visits abroad, attended 64 international academic conferences, jointly trained 62 doctoral students and nine postgraduates with foreign institutes, trained 93 international doctoral students, 23 international postgraduate students, and eight international students pursuing bachelor's degrees, and have published 230 SCI papers co-authored with colleagues from foreign institutes in the world’s top journals, such as The Lancet Infectious Disease, Cell, and PNAS, and 836 SCI papers independently.
