Rutgers University will soon break ground on a nearly 80,000 square-foot building in New Brunswick where its Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health will do basic nutrition research, study policy issues and create partnerships with food companies.

This week, Rutgers awarded a $34 million construction contract to Joseph A. Natoli Construction Co., in the Pine Brook section of Montville, to build a facility that is expected to open in 2015. The total construction project is expected to cost $55 million.

“We want to bring together scholars who will pursue interdisciplinary research; policymakers who will apply that research to real-world problems associated with food and health; and parents, their children, as well as Rutgers students, whose lives can benefit from wellness programs, health education and activities,” said Robert M. Goodman, executive dean of the school of environmental and biological sciences, where the institute is based.