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ANNOUNCEMENTS
George M. Evancho as JIFSAN's Senior Fellow for Corporate Relations
Mr. George M. Evancho has recently joined JIFSAN as Senior Fellow for Corporate Relations. He is currently working with the members of the JIFSAN Advisory Council on the role and structure of the Council. Mr. Evancho's career in the food industry spans nearly 42 years, 39.5 of which were spent with Campbell Soup Co. Over the years, he held various positions in R&D, analytical services, mushroom research, microbiology, food safety, and quality, retiring as Group Director - Food Safety in July 2008. Mr. Evancho is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists and has been active in various organizations over the years. He served on several committees and sub-committees of the National Food Processors Association (now Grocery Manufacturers Association), served as member and Chair of the Technical Committee on Food Microbiology of the International Life Sciences Institute, member and Chair of the Executive Advisory Board of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology in Chicago, member and Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia, and has been a member of the JIFSAN Advisory Council for almost 10 years.
Risk Analysis Program Manager
Dr. Juliana M. Ruzante is the newest addition to JIFSAN. She joined the Institute in October and is in charge of the risk analysis training program and FoodRisk.org. Prior to coming to JIFSAN, Dr. Ruzante was with the University of Guelph and Public Health Agency of Canada developing and operating a multi-factorial framework to rank foodborne risks using multi-criteria decision analysis. She also worked at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security (WIFSS), the University of California, Davis, where she did her graduate studies. Dr. Ruzante received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and Master in Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) and PhD in Comparative Pathology from UC Davis.
JIFSAN Scientists Appointed Members of the National Research Council Committees
Drs. Sanford A. Miller, Jianghong Meng, and Juliana Ruzante of JIFSAN and Dr. Robert Buchanan, Director of the UM Center for Food Safety and Security Systems, were appointed by the National Research Council to serve on Standing and Ad-Hoc Committees on the use of public health data in Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) food safety programs. The committees composed of approximately 30 experts met for the first time on November 7 and 8 to review FSIS data and methods for planning risk-based food inspection. (Processing Slaughter Tech Report, April 18, 2008.pdf). The committee should have a final document which will be publicly available by spring 2009.
CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
The 2nd Annual China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo, Beijing, China
On September 24-25, 2008, Dr. Jianghong Meng with three colleagues from FDA and USDA attended the 2nd Annual China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo in Beijing, China. Dr. Meng organized a breakout session on Trends in Detection Technology and Surveillance, and gave a presentation on "Challenges in Microbial Pathogen Detections in Food". Drs. Eric Brown and Patrick McDermott from FDA's CFSAN and CVM also presented their research findings on "Advances in Molecular Sub-typing Methods that Allow for Identification and Differentiation of Highly Clonal Serovars and Strains of Salmonella Enterica," and "Antimicrobial Resistance in Foodborne Bacteria in the U.S.: Results of National Surveillance", respectively. Dr. Yaguang Luo from USDA/ARS spoke on "Critical Issues in Maintaining Fresh and Fresh-cut Produce Safety" at the Novel Programs and Approaches to Ensure Food Safety session. The meeting was hosted by General Administration for Quality Supervision Inspection & Quarantine (AQSIQ) of China. Over 750 delegates from 17 countries and territories attended the meeting. Speakers include leading world food safety authorities and specialists who shared their knowledge and insights on a broad range of contemporary issues.
JIFSAN Advisory Council
The Advisory Council met on November 20, 2008 at the Sheraton Washington North Hotel, Beltsville, Maryland. After receiving updates on JIFSAN's activities, members discussed the role and structure of the Advisory Council and agreed on changes that could strengthen the Council's effectiveness. A chair (Dr. Richard Lane of Unilever) and a vice-chair (Dr. Julie Jones of the College of St. Catherine) were elected. Three standing subcommittees (program and direction, emerging issues, and membership) were created and staffed. These changes are viewed as a more effective mechanism for the Council to provide continuing advice and direction to JIFSAN outside of Council meetings, which were increased to two per year. The next advisory council meeting will be held March 11-12, 2009.
Center for Risk Communication Research (CR)2 Advisory Board Meeting
was held on December 1 and 2 at the Greenbelt Marriot, Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Juliana M. Ruzante represented JIFSAN at the meeting that brought close to 40 individuals, including board members, affiliated faculty and researchers, and graduate student researchers. Participants at the meeting discussed future goals and directions for (CR)2 and attended presentations of the current work being conducted in the center. JIFSAN has provided operating funds and research support to (CR)2 since it creation in 2003. For more information about (CR)2, please go to: www.riskcenter.umd.edu.
TRAINING AND WORKSHOPS
Dietary Workshop Assessment Tools for Prioritization Food Safety Concerns:
On November 18-19, approximately 50 food safety experts from around the world were invited to participate in a workshop organized by JIFSAN and co-sponsored by GMA, ILSI_NA and IRAC to identify approaches, tools, knowledge gaps and criteria useful for dietary exposure assessment as a component of prioritization potential risks of chemical and microbiological contaminants in foods, for purpose of resource allocation and decision-making. The presentations and summary conclusions from this workshop will be soon posted in JIFSAN's website.
Good Aquaculture Practices (GAqPs) Train-the-Trainer Indonesia Workshop:
There were 41 attendees at the GAqPs Train-the-Trainer Workshop held in Indonesia, Nov. 10-14, 2008. This workshop was held in cooperation with JIFSAN and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and Directorate General of Fisheries Product Processing and Marketing, and was made possible by JohnsonDiversey Corporation through the JohnsonDiversey International Food Safety Initiative. The workshop was comprised of industry personnel from shrimp processing and feedmill organizations, and government fishery extension and food processing personnel from the Indonesia Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and Directorate General of Fisheries Product Processing and Marketing. The successful Train-the-Trainer GAqPs Workshop involved lectures, field trips to aquaculture pond production sites, hands-on training and critiques of GAqPs implemented at the aquaculture pond field sites. The JIFSAN personnel were invited to return at a future date to provide additional training.
China Training Programs in Food Safety:
JIFSAN continues to work with USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) in providing focused food safety training programs to Chinese food safety professionals.
On October 25 through November 3, 2008, a Chinese delegation came to the U.S. for an intensive program on the U.S. pesticide programs and practices and on plans for further cooperation. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials made presentations and engaged in the discussions on comparative practices.
On November 15 to 22, 2008, USDA-FAS, in cooperation with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and FDA, offered a special introductory program to Chinese Inspection and Quarantine officials on the U.S. port inspection and quarantine operations and practices. It included briefings by U.S. food safety officials, site visits to U.S. ports, discussion on comparative practices, and plans for a U.S. delegation to visit Chinese operations in 2009.
JIFSAN to Pilot its New Commercially Sterile Packaged Food (CSPF) Training Program:
For more than a year a team of JIFSAN and industry experts have been working to develop a training program in commercially sterile packaged foods. With the CSPF (formerly LACF) manual virtually completed it was time to develop a training program based on the manual. The first (pilot) CSPF training program will be offered in Casablanca Morocco the last week in January and is supported by JIFSAN, USDA-FAS and a growing US industry consortium that presently includes Campbell Soup Co., General Mills Inc., and Kraft Foods Global, Inc.. The training team is led by Martin Lo (University of Maryland, JIFSAN), George Evancho (JIFSAN), Raymond Carroll (Campbells Soup Co.) and Daniel Geffen (FDA). The training team, Kate Nickles (USDA-FAS) and Paul Mazzocchi (JIFSAN) met on November 19 to work out the details of the customized five-day training program agenda and content. After the results of the pilot program are evaluated the training program will be revised and put in final form. Plans are to offer training internationally at approximately three sites each year.
Food Safety Risk Analysis online courses:
Another Food Safety Risk Assessment online course was completed on October 24, 2008. It was a diverse group of about 20 students from around the world. The course covered the principles of food safety risk assessment and it included both microbiological and chemical risk assessments. The qualitative and quantitative food safety risk assessment online course has also started and is being taught by Dr. Charles Yoe. More information about JIFSAN food safety risk analysis courses can be found at http://jifsan.umd.edu/prodev/schedule.cfm.
RESEARCH
JIFSAN has Funded Three Research Projects on Fresh Produce Safety
JIFSAN has recently funded three research projects on fresh produce safety: 1) Evaluating Public Health Impacts and Cost-Effectiveness of Implementing GAPs in the Tomato Farm Environment, PI: Amy Sapkota, UM, Collaborators: Sammy Joseph, UM, Andrew Estrin and Cristina F. McLaughlin, FDA/CFSAN; 2) Developing Phyllosphere Metrics in GAPs to Reduce the Risks of Salmonellosis in Fresh-Market Tomatoes and Other Vegetable Crops, PI: Chris Walsh, UM, Collaborator: Eric Brown, FDA/CFSAN; and 3) Plant Responses to the Colonization by Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, PI: Jean-Michel Ane , University of Wisconsin, Collaborators: Charles Kasper, University of Wisconsin, Eric Brown, FDA/CFSAN . The first two projects focus on microbial reduction efforts on farm affected by GAPs program, whereas the third project will determine mechanisms of plant response to human enteric pathogens which can lead to developing possible intervention strategies in preventing colonization of these pathogens in plants.
COLLABORATIONS
INRA-MET@RISK
JIFSAN is collaborating with the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA); University of California, San Diego, and the US FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition on a joint research project to analyze the way that food safety risk assessments treat various forms of uncertainty. The project involves testing a computer based tool developed by INRA and UC San Diego using a variety of food safety risk assessments to determine how each addresses the different forms of uncertainty (such as data uncertainty and model uncertainty) in the risk models, how these uncertainties are presented in the descriptive technical reports and executive summaries, and whether there are consistent differences between different types of risk assessments (for example, risk ranking assessments and product pathway assessments). This project is the basis for a proposal submitted in November 2008 by INRA-Met@Risk to further the development of a tool that will systematically evaluate risk assessments and other food safety documents.
FoodRisk.org
Exclusives
FoodRisk.org has once again been the choice for exclusively hosting scientific data that can be used by risk assessors in the food safety community. The data provided through the EcoSure survey include food temperatures that were measured in retail and consumer refrigerators and freezers. The EcoSure 2007 Cold Temperature Evaluation was undertaken by EcoSure, Ecolab's food safety and quality assurance business, as an update to past research done in 1989 and 1999. The EcoSure Press release is available at: http://investor.ecolab.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=350318. The EcoSure 2007 Cold Temperature Database is available at: http://foodrisk.org/exclusives/EcoSure/
56 FR No. 229 (1991) (Proposed NLEA) Now Available at FoodRisk.org
We have just posted on FoodRisk.org the PDF version of the proposed rules for Food Labeling (56 FR No. 229) released on November 27, 1991 which preceded the final Food Labeling Regulations (58 FR No 3) released on January 6, 1993 (also online at http://foodrisk.org/exclusives/NLEA/index.cfm). The Federal Register notice on the proposed rules provides valuable information that is specifically referenced in the final rule. This document pertains specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration. All pages were scanned from the original, including text, charts, images and bibliographical references. Available at: http://foodrisk.org/exclusives/NLEA/proposed.cfm.
© 2009 Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. All rights reserved.
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