New Animal Health and Food Safety Lab Opens in California’s Central Valley

A new $108 million animal health laboratory in Turlock will help California farmers and veterinarians detect potentially dangerous animal diseases more quickly, respond to outbreaks and protect the state’s food supply. The facility, operated by the University of California, Davis, Weill School of Veterinary Medicine in partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, or CDFA, is nearly nine times larger than the lab it replaces.  

The new facility is part of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, or CAHFS, a network of four laboratories headquartered at UC Davis and operated by the veterinary school for the state. 

Until now, the Turlock lab handled only poultry, so veterinarians and ranchers with deceased cattle, horses, pigs or goats that needed evaluation had to go to the other lab locations. 

“Limited space in our Turlock facility meant livestock ranchers would drive several hours to our CAHFS labs in either Davis or Tulare to get services,” said Simone Stoute, branch chief of the CAHFS-Turlock laboratory.  “The new lab will eliminate that need and reduce turnaround time for diagnostic testing.”

The veterinary school dedicated the lab Friday to honor the legacy of longtime leaders in avian diagnostics, Arthur A. Bickford and Bruce R. Charlton.

Expansion of services

The new 44,000-square-foot lab replaces a 5,000-square-foot building that investigated causes of death and tracked disease in poultry. The extra space lets the lab perform animal autopsies, called necropsies, and other diagnostic testing on deceased cattle, horses, pigs, goats and other livestock, in addition to poultry. The additional services are especially important to the estimated $3.5 billion livestock and poultry industry in the Turlock region.

“California is proud to be home to the largest and most diverse agriculture in the world,” said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “As we dedicate this new laboratory in Turlock, we are reminded that skilled scientists with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment are truly at the front line, working with farmers, ranchers and veterinarians to protect the safety and security of our nation’s food supply.”

The CAHFS lab’s staff will nearly double and the new building houses both CDFA and CAHFS employees, allowing increased collaboration and coordination to prevent and manage disease outbreaks.

The CAHFS lab offers necropsy services, blood tests, bacteriology, parasitology, tissue analysis (histology) and expanded molecular testing.

The Turlock lab plays a key role in detecting diseases that threaten California’s commercial poultry industry. Testing of birds submitted to the lab has helped identify cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.

“We’re there to protect the health and productivity of California’s agricultural industries and ensure that we have a safe, productive and wholesome food supply,” said Ashley Hill, director of CAHFS.

Dedicated to avian veterinary diagnostics

The building is named the Arthur A. Bickford-Bruce R. Charlton Turlock Branch Laboratory in honor of two leaders in poultry disease diagnostics. Both were veterinary pathologists who led the Turlock laboratory and received national recognition for their contributions to avian medicine. Bickford retired in 2001 and died in 2023. Charlton led the laboratory until his death in 2014.