The JIFSAN Collaborative Training Centers
As successful as JIFSAN’s training programs in GAPs, GAqPs and CSPF are, the needs of the international community are huge, and JIFSAN needed to find a way to leverage it’s intellectual and fiscal resources necessary to provide the desired training. The development of the JIFSAN Collaborative Training Centers (CTC) is an effort to leverage JIFSAN’s limited resources by working with local governmental agencies and NGOs to develop cadres of resident in-country trainers that can provide the needed training with only minimal support from JIFSAN and FDA.
The criteria used in establishing the CTCs were:
- A host country that exported to the US and whose food industry lacked and needed training.
- A partner organization in the host that was committed to improving food safety in their industry, was well respected in–country, and had connections to local and national government agencies and NGOs.
- Strong leadership in the potential partner organization.
- The potential for the new center to offer standard JIFSAN training programs such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Aquacultural Practices (GAqP), Commercially Sterile Packaged Foods (CSPF) and to develop other training efforts unique to the local environment.
Once the new center was established and a cadre of resident trainers developed, JIFSAN and FDA efforts would largely devolve to an intellectual support program, assuring that the Center personnel and programs maintained currency with international standards and practices.
The first effort in this regard was the establishment of the Aquatic and Aquacultural Food Safety Center (AAFSC) jointly with the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF). The AAFSC has made great progress since its inception in 2009 and serves as a model for what we plan to be a network of such Centers.
