Morgan Roan
University of Georgia
Dr. Elsa A. Murano, secretary of Food Safety and Inspection
Service for the United States Department of Agriculture, will
deliver this year’s Woodroof Lecture at the University of
Georgia in Athens.
Set for Thursday, April 22, at 2 p.m., the lecture will be held
in Masters Hall at the Georgia Center for Continuing
Education. A reception will follow at 3 p.m.
Murano will speak on “Legislating Logic: Infusing Science into
Food Safety Regulations.” Sworn into her position by
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman on October 2, 2001, Murano
oversees the policies and programs of the nation’s Food Safety
and Inspection Service.
Before joining USDA, from 2001 until her appointment, Murano
served as a member of the USDA National Advisory Committee for
Meat and Poultry Inspection. Since 1998 she also served on the
National Alliance for Food Safety Operations Committee, which
she chaired in 2000.
She has extensive public and private experience in the field of
food safety and has held several positions with Texas A&M
University at College Station, Texas. Most recently, she served
as the director of the university’s Center for Food Safety
within the Institute of Food Science and Engineering.
While at Texas A&M, she also served on the university’s
Department of
Animal Science Research Advisory Committee, the Food Safety
Response Team of the Texas Agriculture Extension Service, and
chaired the Food Safety State Initiative Committee of the Texas
Agriculture Experiment Station.
Prior to her Texas appointment, Murano served as a professor-in-
charge of research programs at the Linear Accelerator Facility
at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
She was a member of several professional organizations, which
included the American Society for Microbiology, the Association
of Meat Science, the Institute of Food Technologists, the
Poultry Science Association, and the International Association
of Food Protection.
A native of Havana, Cuba, Murano holds a B.S. degree in
biological sciences from Florida International University in
Miami, a M.S. degree in anaerobic microbiology and a Ph.D. in
food science and technology, both from Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.
The Woodroof Lecture is presented annually in honor and memory
of Dr. J.G. Woodroof, a pioneer in food science research and
UGA Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus. The lecture is
sponsored by the UGA Department of Food Science and Technology
and the UGA Food Science and Technology Club.
The Woodroof Lecture is free and open to the public. For more
information, contact the UGA Department of Food Science and
Technology at (706) 542-2286.
