The Institute was formed as a result of a restructuring of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation under the Science and Industry Amendment Act 1978.  The Act provided for CSIRO Divisions to be grouped into five institutes, one of them being the Institute of Animal and Food Sciences.

The Institute brought together two long-standing lines of investigation commenced by the Advisory Council of Science and Industry before the formation of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1926.

Until 1945 animal research was primarily concerned with the problems of disease and nutrition.  After that it was expanded to cover genetics and physiology.  In food research, the initial emphasis was on preservation and transport.  It related especially to the technical problems of exporting meat, dairy products and fruit to the United Kingdom.  Food research expanded to cover the processing, transport and storage of meat, fish, dairy products, fruit, vegetables and grain and included the microbiological safety and physico-chemical and nutritive properties of foods.

The involvement of CSIRO in human nutrition began in 1974, when the Division of Human Nutrition was formed from the Division of Nutritional Biochemistry.

The Wheat Research Unit began in 1958 and in 1987 it was incorporated into the Division of Plant Industry.  The unit was housed with the Bread Research Institute of Australia and had been the focus of CSIRO contributions on wheat quality.

The Molecular and Cellular Biology Unit was formed in 1975 from part of the Division of Animal Genetics and in 1983 it became the Division of Molecular Biology.  The formation of the Unit reflected the increasing significance of molecular biology and its application, not only to plant and animal breeding but also to a wider industrial sphere, as well as to the understanding of phenomena related to human health such as mutation, carcinogenesis and ageing.

The Centre for Animal Research and Development was established in 1974 and in 1981 became the Research Institute for Animal Production. The Centre was financed by the Australian Development Assistance Bureau under the Colombo Plan.  Its purpose was to assist the Indonesian Government to expand and improve research directed towards increasing the efficiency of animal production in Indonesia.

Institute Objectives

The Institute carried out research to assist:

* the livestock and fishing industries to increase productivity,
  improve product quality and marketability and diversify production,
  especially into higher value products;

* the food industry to improve the handling, preservation,
  microbiological safety, nutritional value, acceptability and
  processing of food and to develop added-value and new food and non-
  food products from agricultural products and by-products;

* federal and state Governments to establish standards for food
  quality and microbiological safety, and to formulate national
  policies for food and nutrition;

* the consumer to choose and prepare a healthy diet; and

* the pharmaceutical industry to develop veterinary and medical
 products.

On 31 December 1987, as a result of the Australian Science and Technology Council (ASTEC) review of CSIRO, the Institute was disbanded to form the Institutes of Animal Production and Processing, and Plant Production and Processing respectively.  The purpose of the re-organisation was to focus research planning more effectively on the needs of industry, while continuing to foster connections between Divisions and Institutes for the development of new technologies.

The Institute Directors were Dr K A Ferguson from 1978 to 5 April 1986 and Dr A D Donald (Acting) from 6 April 1986 to 31 December 1987.


Sources

Institute of Animal and Food Sciences Annual Report, 1979/80

Institute of Animal and Food Sciences Annual Report, 1985/86

Institute of Animal and Food Sciences Annual Report, 1986/87
Historical agency address
Corporate Centre, Limestone Avenue, Canberra ACT

Agency controlled unregistered

CSIRO Division of Animal Health, Parkville
CSIRO Centre for Animal Research and Development, Indonesia
CSIRO Wheat Research Unit, North Ryde
CSIRO Molecular and Cellular Biology Unit, North Ryde

Previous agency unregistered

Dec 1973 - 11 Dec 1978: CSIRO Animal Research Laboratories