Mission:
The Southern Regional Research Center conducts research related primarily to post-harvest processing, product enhancement, safety and use of agricultural commodities produced in the Southern U.S., utilizing a multi-disciplinary team of scientists in eight research units. General research objectives include achieving maximum use of agricultural products for domestic markets and export, developing new uses and processes for farm products and the means for promoting optimum human health and well-being through improved nutrition, promoting product safety and quality, and developing effective control technologies for the Formosan subterranean termite. The Center conducts a major effort to measure and improve upon the quality of cotton products to provide a marketing advantage to the domestic cotton farmers and textile manufacturers in the global market. The Center effort also extends to research to develop new processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness of food-processing systems and reduction of processing costs; research to enhance the quality and nutritional value of such food products as rice and peanuts to improve human nutrition; studies to promote efficient processing and quality in sugar; studies to promote safety and health involving the prevention of contamination of agricultural products by fungal toxins, off-flavors in processing fish, evaluation and study of refuse by-products of agricultural commodities and animals, the application of recent advancements in biotechnology to promote the uses and added values of agricultural commodities; and studies related to obesity research.