Stronger Partnerships for Safer Food

George Washington University Professor Michael R. Taylor and the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) today released a new report, Stronger Partnerships for Safer Food: An Agenda for Strengthening State and Local Roles in the Nation’s Food Safety System.

With attention direction toward federal food safety reform, the vital contributions of state and local agencies are often forgotten. Food safety reform will be incomplete and insufficient unless an integrated national food safety system takes full advantage of and enhances the contribution state and local agencies.

The report outlines the current roles of federal, state, and local agencies in protecting Americans against foodborne illness.  It contains 27 findings on the strengths and weaknesses in illness surveillance, outbreak response, regulation, and inspection. The report makes 19 specific recommendations for strengthening state and local roles and for building an integrated national food safety system that works effectively to prevent foodborne illness. It is the product of a collaborative project involving the GW School of Public Health and Health Services, AFDO, ASTHO, and NACCHO and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Agricultural Biotechnology Seminar Today

The Second Decade of Agricultural Biotechnology:
Domestic and International Regulatory and Acceptance Challenges
by
Dr. Gregory Jaffe
Director, Biotechnology Project
Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C.

 Thursday, April 16, 2009
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.

271 Plant and Soil Sciences Building
Michigan State University

Competition on New Policy Approaches

The Farm Foundation has organized a competition seeking innovative and promising public policy options to address the challenges agriculture may face in providing food, feed, fiber and fuel over the next 30 years.  The competition is open to anyone with an interest in the public policy issues outlined in the Foundation's report, The 30-Year Challenge: Agriculture’s Strategic Role in Feeding and Fueling a Growing World.  The Foundation intends to award cash prizes totaling $20,000.  Entry deadline is June 1, 2009. More information is available here and the details of the competition are here.   

Seminar: "Obesity, Fast Food, and Grocery Stores" April 30

On April 30, 2009, from 3:30-5:00 pm, Raymond Florax, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University will present as seminar titled, "Obesity, Fast Food, and Grocery Stores: Evidence from Geo-referenced Micro Data."  The seminar will be in room 75 Agriculture Hall, Michigan State University.

Global Food Contact Conference in Frankfurt, Germany

Dr. P. Vincent Hegarty, Founding Director and Professor Emeritus, Institute for Food Laws & Regulations, will be speaking at the forthcoming Global Food Contact Legislation 2009 conference in Frankfurt, Germany.  The conference is from Tuesday 23rd June until Thursday 25th June, 2009.

The conference examines the food contact laws for Europe, the US, Asia and other markets. This event will include expert analysis of updates to food contact legislation for countries including Ireland, Turkey, US, Argentina, Canada, China, Korea, Japan, and Thailand. Also included is a comprehensive overview of European regulatory changes and challenges and discussion of the most current issues by top legal, regulatory and industrial specialists.

You may find out further details of the program at www.globalfoodcontact.com. You may receive a 25% discount on the conference price if telephone or email Natalie King on +44 (0) 1372 802164 or natalie.king@pira-international.com and mention the Institute for Food Laws & Regulations by April 28.