Oct. 22, 2004
Experts Discuss Global Food Safety at Conference
By
Jenny Bjelland
UW-RF News Bureau
Global food science industry leaders with expertise in food microbiology safety
and food quality gathered at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls this past
week for the 24th Annual Food Microbiology Symposium.
The eclectic group of individuals from around the world attended a series of
speakers and workshops to learn recent updates on pathogens, toxins, and contaminants
affecting the food industry.
Frank Busta, director of the new Homeland Security National Center for Food
Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota, was the keynote speaker
for the conference along with Ann Marie McNamara, vice president of food safety
and scientific affairs at Silliker, Inc., a global leader in food microbiology
testing.
Busta, in his speech, "A New Paradigm for Threat Management," explained
the new national security center's mission. "Our role is to protect the
safety of all the nation's food supply through research and education,"
he said, referring to both intentional and unintentional threats.
The new university-based research center in Minneapolis is one of four such
partnerships that bring together industry representatives and academic staff
in order to develop new techniques to protect food supply.
McNamara described the recent increase in food testing during her speech, "Regulator,
Consumer, and Customer Demands for More Robust Testing." According to McNamara,
since the early 1990s, regulatory programs, consumer groups, the retail and
food service industries and the legal community have called for more and better
food testing.
Recent demands have lead to a higher frequency of microbiological, chemical
and nutritional tests on food products for Listeria, E. Coli, BSE, food allergens,
and trans-fatty acids on nutritional labeling just to name a few.
Because the food science industry is constantly changing, the annual Food Microbiology
Symposium is important in keeping industry personnel up to date, says Stephen
Ridley, dean of the UW-RF College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
More than 125 members of the food science industry attended the symposium including
some from Australia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Israel, Norway, Belgium, France,
England and the Netherlands. The event was sponsored by 27 national and global
industry businesses.
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