USDA to build new Food Safety and Inspection Service Midwestern Laboratory in Normandy
R to L: GSA Administrator, Robin Carnahan, Missouri Senator, Brian Williams, St. Louis County Councilwoman, Rita Days, STL Partnership CEO & President, Rodney Crim, UMSL Chief of Staff Adella Jones, and Beyond Housing CEO & President Chris Krehmeyer
The U.S. Department of Agriculture celebrated the groundbreaking of a new Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Midwestern Laboratory in Normandy, Missouri on May 24. The lab will replace the current testing facility that is located in the Goodfellow neighborhood.
The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages properties on behalf of other government agencies, signed a 20-year lease for the USDA site with a contract value of $115.4 million. The new site, located in the St. Louis Promise Zone near the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) campus on Natural Bridge Rd., is the former Immaculate Heart Convent owned by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd since 1874. Last year, the property was sold to the U.S. Federal Properties Co., a firm that specializes in the development of properties leased to the U.S. federal government.
“We are thrilled to have a state-of-the-art food safety and inspection laboratory in Normandy,” said St. Louis Promise Zone Manager Lavoughnda White. “Many thanks to all the federal and local partners that helped bring this investment into the St. Louis Promise Zone.”
The St. Louis lab is one of three in the country. This new lab will address present and future public health challenges through science and technology to ensure that our nation’s meat, poultry and processed egg supply is safe and properly labeled.
The FSIS said it also expects to increase efficiency due to close proximity to St. Louis Lambert International Airport, and St. Louis colleges to recruit new talent.
R to L: STL Promise Zone Manager, Lavoughnda White, St. Louis County Councilwoman,Rita Days, STL Partnership CEO & President, Rodney Crim
The state-of-the-art lab is currently in the design phase and should begin construction this summer. The GSA also said the current employees of the Goodfellow lab will move operations by the end of 2025 when the facility is complete.