Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit » Docs » Aboutus
Aboutus
headline bar

*Gast, Richard K
Supervisory Microbiologist
South Atlantic Area
950 College Station Road
Athens GA 30604
(706) 546-3445
FAX (706) 546-3035

Mission:
The mission of the Egg and Poultry Production Research Unit is to protect public health and the marketability of eggs and poultry products by developing improved poultry flock production practices and egg processing technologies to prevent the transmission of disease-causing microorganisms to consumers. Among the specific objectives of this research are determining how microbial pathogens infect poultry and cause contamination of edible products, understanding how environmental conditions and poultry production practices influence the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of food-transmissible pathogens, developing effective methods for preventing infection of poultry by these pathogens and for testing to detect infected flocks and contaminated eggs, and improving egg processing practices to reduce microbial contamination while enhancing egg quality.