Radio Iowa, IA
04-19-06
I-S-U hosts symposium on food safety
by Stella Shaffer
Iowa State University's hosting the first annual "Institute for Food Safety and
Security Symposium" today (Wednesday) with representatives from national
livestock and public-health groups as well as the USDA and the Food and Drug
Administration. Ted McDonald is a scientist with the Institute who says they've
brought the university researchers together with industry leaders and "policy
folks" to talk about methods to ensure our food supply is safe.
McDonald says food safety generally refers to unintentional contamination of
food whereas "food security," also sometimes referred to as "food defense" is all
about the deliberate contamination of food. Federal agriculture-department
speakers this morning talked about the global situation, and I-S-U professors
brought it home with talks about livestock production and food handling. He says
Iowa's food production and processing industries both export and import food
from the rest of the world, so the topics ranged from interacting with other
countries to how different U.S. agencies interact with each other.
Experts from the ISU veterinary school talked about antibiotic use in livestock.
McDonald says in addition to security itself, the experts mulled over another big
issue. "What does the public know about food safety, food defense and biosecurity?" He says the challenge is communicating what the experts know, and
how they can better go about communicating the risks.
McDonald says the United States has the safest food supply in the world. "That's
not by accident," McDonald adds. "There are a number of folks engaged in
training, which is probably the most important thing, good education both at the
consumer level and at the production-processing level." He says workers in food
processing industries must be well trained in good sanitation techniques. He says
at the state level, safety's assured by University Extension and Iowa's
Department of Inspections and Appeals.
McDonald says food security's a mix of high-tech science and old-fashioned
home-economics advice you've heard for years. He says it's a multi-layered
effort: "Everyone has to take some responsibility for their own food safety
issues." He says consumers deserve a wholesome food supply. And then when
we get food and take it home he says we're back to the good old advice of
"keeping our cold foods cold and our hot foods hot." Composed of seven
disciplines at Iowa State, the Institute for Food Safety and security is governed
by a board of deans and aims to respond to concerns with impact throughout the
global food chain.