IFSTL JOINT PROGRAMME

The University of Maryland
and Waters Corporation
have partnered to open a
facility in Maryland to train
foreign food manufacturers
and scientists in methods of
analysis to help them meet
US food safety standards.
The International Food Safety
Training Laboratory (IFSTL) will
be run by the Joint Institute for
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
(JIFSAN), a new collaboration
between the University of
Maryland and the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA). The
IFSTL is expected to open next
year.
Imports account for about 15
percent of the total US food
supply, including 60 percent of
fresh fruit and vegetables and
80 percent of seafood. According
to the Government
Accountability Office, there are
about 189,000 registered foreign
sites where food is made for sale
in the United States, but the FDA
only inspects a tiny fraction of
them – just 153 in 2008.
Director of JIFSAN Jianghong
Meng said: "Inspection at the
border is not an option. We
import so much food from other
countries that the FDA can only
inspect about one percent of it.
The answer is to control
contamination at the source."
The establishment of the
International Food Safety
Training Laboratory was
announced at an expert working
group meeting in Washington, DC,
seeking to define best practices
for food safety training in the
Asia-Pacific region.
Boosting food safety
confidence
Dr Robert Brackett, chief science
officer at the Grocery
Manufacturers Association, was
one of several members of the
trade organization represented
in the expert working group.
Dr Brackett said: “Combined with
food safety legislation that
places prevention as the
cornerstone of our food safety
system, this work to address
the critical food safety training
needs in the APEC [Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation] region will
help modernize our food safety
system and bolster consumer
confidence in the safety and
security of the food supply
globally. ”
The IFSTL is intended to train
scientists to detect both
microbiological and chemical
contaminants.
Chairman, president and CEO of
the Waters Corporation Douglas
Berthiaume said: "Waters
Corporation is committed to
bridging the gap between
governments and industry to
ensure the best science and
most innovative technologies are
used to make our food safe. ”
President of the University of
Maryland, Dr C. Dan Mote, said:
“ This collaboration is a superb
example of how the public and
private sectors can maximize
their impact by combining their
strengths. The new programs
have excellent potential for
improving food safety
internationally."
The expert working group found
that the four areas with the
most critical food safety training
needs in the APEC region were:
risk assessment; laboratory
capacity; incident management
and supply chain management.
JIFSAN said that in addition to
training foreign and US scientists
in best food safety practices, it
would also support the APEC
forum ’s goal to establish
laboratory capacity building
measures for the 22 member
countries.