Wisconsin Ag Connection - Ricke to Lead UW-Madison Meat Science, Animal Biologics Program

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Ricke to Lead UW-Madison Meat Science, Animal Biologics Program
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 09/29/2020

The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences has hired a new director for its Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery program. Steven Ricke will be responsible for the assessment, strategic guidance and oversight of the research, teaching and outreach efforts of the program, which is housed within the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences.

A native of Illinois, Ricke comes to CALS from the University of Arkansas, where he served as a professor of food science since 2005. Considered a leader in the field of microbial food safety in poultry, he is well-known for his research exploring how Salmonella and Campylobacter survive in food animals on the farm and during processing as well as interventions to reduce the risk these foodborne pathogens pose to consumers.

"We are extremely excited about bringing an internationally recognized food safety expert like Steve Ricke to UW-Madison," said Kent Weigel, chair of the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. "He is an incredibly prolific scientist, and he has been a leader in integrating new technologies into his research program, which has had a significant and widespread impact on the safety of food production systems in the U.S. and abroad."

MSABD is currently in the process of moving into a $60 million state-of-the-art facility. The new building will enable the program to expand and explore more avenues of innovation--including new processing technologies, novel meat products, and biological compounds derived from animal processing to help open new commercial markets for the meat industry.

Ricke begins his new position on October 5. He replaces Dan Schaefer, who retired from his faculty position in late 2019.

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