Safe Food

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Food at Pike place
Investigating food systems, food safety and food policy

Our faculty and students in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences explore how to safeguard the environment while improving the health and safety of workers in the food and agricultural industries, the people who depend on these resources and the animals used for livestock production. 

We investigate the links between food systems, food policy, diet and health outcomes. We guide students to understand, identify and manage the risks associated with our food supply. 

Research spotlight

A man wearing a blue T-shirt and orange chest waders looks down at a cockle shell while standing in a bay. Behind him is a long dock covered in seaweed.

Our most-read stories of 2025

Our top stories address emerging challenges in community and workplace health and safety

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Two people stand on either side of an outdoor refrigerator and food storage cabinet. A sign above the community fridge and micropantry reads "Free food for all! (translated into Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese) Take what you need leave what you can we're one community, friends + neighbors." The micropantry is painted green with flowers and is in front of a church labeled "St. Joseph Parish."

With community fridges, neighbors feed each other

DEOHS faculty members Emily Hovis and Marie Spiker collaborate with UW Urban Freight Lab to improve safety and efficiency of hyperlocal food sharing

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Person with short curly brown hair and glasses sits in a lab near a counter full of test tubes and other equipment.

On the job: Katrina Gunvaldson

Environmental public health major Katrina Gunvaldson helps test for biotoxins, working toward safer shellfish by the seashore

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