The Anheuser-Busch Foundation has pledged $5 million in matching funds to support construction of a new 16,000-square-foot food science laboratory building in the developing Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the University of California, Davis.

The gift, provided by the philanthropic arm of the world's largest brewing company, equips UC Davis to raise the additional funds needed to complete the laboratory building, which will be named the Anheuser-Busch Brewing and Food Science Laboratory.

"This generous pledge from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation is a cornerstone in the development of the Robert Mondavi Institute," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "It will allow our campus to take its teaching and research programs in the food sciences to the next level of excellence and is especially meaningful because so many UC Davis alumni have gone on to join Anheuser-Busch."

The planned food science facility will be one of three buildings to be constructed as part of the Mondavi Institute. It will be located on Old Davis Road near the Interstate 80 entrance to UC Davis.

Slated for completion in 2006, the laboratory building will help replace the food science and technology department's pilot complex, which includes a food-processing facility, brewery and teaching laboratories. Those facilities are currently housed in 50-year-old Cruess Hall, which was built for the research needs and technologies of another era.

The Anheuser-Busch Brewing and Food Science Laboratory will include a 1.5-barrel brewery, a food-processing facility, and teaching and research laboratories.

The Robert Mondavi Institute also will include an academic building with 75,000 square feet of teaching and research laboratories, offices and meeting rooms. The third building in the institute complex will be a 46,000-square-foot teaching and research winery.

UC Davis has a long and distinguished history in the area of the food and beverage sciences. Its Department of Food Science and Technology is one of the leading food science programs in the nation and offers the only doctoral degree in this field in California. Students majoring in food science are trained in food microbiology, chemistry, analysis, processing and engineering. They study properties of important food commodities and learn how to improve nutritional quality, flavor and safety of foods. They also learn how to design new foods, identify problems in existing products and investigate the fundamental chemistry, physics and biology related to foods.

The department's brewing science program is the only such accredited four-year program offered by a major U.S. university.

The Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science was established last fall with a gift from winemaker Robert Mondavi. The institute will bring together students and faculty members studying in fields related to the wine and food sciences, and will provide cutting-edge facilities for teaching and research in these areas.

The Anheuser-Busch Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., a St. Louis-based corporation with subsidiaries that include the world's largest brewing organization, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of aluminum beverage containers, and one of the largest theme-park operators in the United States. Anheuser-Busch and its charitable foundation donate funds to hundreds of charitable organizations each year including colleges and universities, health care institutions, social service agencies, civic organizations, and arts and cultural groups.