The Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology was a constituent of the erstwhile Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Public Health in the College of Veterinary Sciences. In 1994, the Department of Veterinary Public Health came into its independent existence. Now the name of the department has been changed as Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology after the merger of Epidemiology component of “Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine”. The activities of the Department are supported by competent faculty presently consisting of a Professor and two Assistant Professors. The main areas of academic activity of the department relate to teaching, research and extension. The undergraduate teaching programme (towards B.V.Sc. & A.H. degree) comprises of domains viz., Milk and Meat Hygiene, Food safety and Public Health, Veterinary Epidemiology, Zoonoses along with Environment and Environmental Hygiene. The postgraduate programmes have also been designed to offer M.V.Sc. and Ph. D. degree in Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology.

Since inception, the department has been actively engaged in research on microbial toxicology, sanitary quality of water, milk and meat, and sero-diagnosis of zoonotic infections. Pioneering work has been done in the areas of meat speciation, characterization of Salmonella and Escherichia coli, elucidation of the mechanism of microbial drug resistance and analysis of pesticide and drug residues in foods of animal origin.

The department is also actively engaged in various community welfare programmes. It provides expertise towards meat inspection, water quality evaluation, education of rural women on public health aspect and training of slaughterhouse personnel in hygienic meat production. Educational materials are prepared and published in magazines and Journals with especial orientation towards farmers and rural masses. The department is engaged in contributing to the welfare of human communities through education and research in the ever-growing field of Veterinary Public Health.