At the third-oldest veterinary school in the world, founded by Maria Theresa in 1765, an honorary lectureship for milk hygiene was established in the summer semester of 1908, from which the Institute for Milk Hygiene and Food Science emerged in 1920 and which was expanded in 1923 to include the subject of animal feed science. In 2019, the Institute for Dairy Hygiene was incorporated into the new Large Institute for Food Safety and Public Veterinary Health and renamed the Unit of Food Microbiology.

The Unit of Food Microbiology stands on the three pillars of academic dignity: Excellent research while maintaining freedom of design in the field of food-associated, harmful germs Practice-relevant teaching taking into account the latest knowledge specialized service in terms of maintaining consumer health.

With this in mind, around 25 postdocs, technicians and supporting staff (as of 2021) are working on scientific topics relating to the microbial and chemical safety of food. The activities are supplemented by employees of the Austrian Competence Center for Feed and Food Quality, Safety and Innovation in which the university is significantly involved.

This basic research structure is integrated into a network of national and international third-party funded projects, which enable the international visibility of research (Research and research cooperation chapter). The goal of the department is to strengthen its reputation in the "scientific community" through publications in what are possibly the best journals. The institute's strategy refers to the required networking along the food chain. We therefore offer the interdisciplinary linking of activities with other universities and extra-university research and risk assessment institutions such as the Austrian Agency for Food and Nutritional Safety (AGES). However, we are also committed to well-founded problem solving in cooperation with the responsible authorities. Ultimately, the implementation of our research depends on the acceptance of the results in the food industry. We therefore make our knowledge available for highly specialized services such as product environment investigations and contamination chain clarifications. We organize platforms for knowledge transfer, organize training events and give lectures on current problems of food safety at specialist conferences. Anyone who conducts research at a high level can offer a sufficient degree of self-awareness and background knowledge with regard to relevant teaching. Excellent teaching is the main task of a university. The students of veterinary medicine are trained by the staff of the institute in both the basic studies as well as in the advanced module "Food Safety and Public Veterinary Services" in a theoretical and practical way on topics relevant to veterinary medicine along the milk production and processing chain (chapter teaching). The teaching content begins with animal-friendly mechanical milk extraction and ends with the quality of milk and milk products. The institute also teaches food hygiene and microbiology for other universities such as the University of Vienna and the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences.