Food Production, Food Safety and the Global Food Supply

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The ease and speed with which animals, animal products and food are shipped around the world has increased dramatically in recent years. Consequently, food safety and the transmission of foodborne pathogens has become a truly global issue, where local food production conditions can affect people over broad spatial and temporal scales. A multi-national, multi-disciplinary approach is required in order to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness associated with imported foods. This project will develop a U.S. - Latin American network of research and education. These multi-national endeavors will help establish a food safety network in the Americas and will help reduce the incidence of foodborne illness in the U.S. associated with imported foods. <P>APPROACH: The research will focus on methods that are critical for elucidating the role of imported foods in U.S. foodborne illnesses as well as designing interventions for reducing these risks. We will apply novel statistical sampling methodologies to the detection and quantification of foodborne pathogens in imported food. We will use data on Salmonella and E. coli in the U.S. and Latin America to design quantitative microbial risk assessments and attribution analyses. This project will enable the identification of potential control points and interventions. Finally, we will further develop a multi-disciplinary food safety education program in the U.S. and Latin America. We will expand Public Health Institutes in Minnesota and Latin America, we will train veterinary students and graduate students from the U.S. and Latin America in food safety research, we will expand our Latin American workshop on the uses of molecular epidemiology in food safety and we will enroll Latin American professionals in an Executive MPH program. These multi-national endeavors will help establish a food safety network in the Americas and will help reduce the incidence of foodborne illness in the U.S. associated with imported foods.

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PROGRESS: 2006/09 TO 2007/09<BR>
One primary objective of this project is to develop an Institute of Public Health and Food Safety in the Americas. The goal of this Institute is to establish a network of educators in the Americas that can deliver current topics in food safety to students, academics and professionals throughout the Americas. In addition, this network will help stimulate international research networks. We have already succeeded in the implementation of this objective. In January 2007, we convened a two-week Institute that consisted of 8 week-long courses. The instructors for the courses came from the U.S., Chile and Argentina. In total there were 78 participants that came from the U.S., Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. Participants included students and professors from various universities, government officials from departments of agriculture and human health, individuals from private diagnostic laboratories, and representatives from various animal production companies and organizations. All participants in the Institute will be tracked over time to determine how they have used the information from the Institute in their work. A second objective this project is to train senior-year veterinary students from the U.S. in food safety and public health issues that are relevant in developing countries in the Americas. In collaboration with the Chilean Ministry of Health, these students will travel to Chile for a one-month externship related to global food safety and international food production. In January 2007, three veterinary students from the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and North Carolina State University participated in this program. Students for January 2008 have already been selected and are from Cornell University, Michigan State University, Virginia Tech, and the University of California at Davis. Another major objective is to stimulate food safety research between students in the U.S. and investigators in Latin America as well as between students in Latin America and investigators in the U.S. We have made progress in both of these areas. First, we are building a collaboration with various scientists at the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas - ANLIS "Dr. Carlos Malbran" in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Beginning in May 2007, a dual degree DVM/MPH student from Virginia Tech will spend three months in Buenos Aires investigating the diversity and distribution of Salmonella Newport that have been collected through the GSS program. Second, a DVM/MS student from Chile will travel to Cornell University to investigate the molecular characteristics of a new strain of multi-drug resistant S. Newport.
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IMPACT: 2006/09 TO 2007/09<BR>

The ability to improve food safety in the U.S. is a global issue, mainly due to the amount of food that is imported. Latin America supplies a considerable amount of food, predominantly fruits and vegetables, to the U.S. This project will develop research and education programs throughout the Americas in order to improve the quality of food that is consumed domestically and that is shipped throughout the Americas. Our network will enhance the quality of the research conducted in the area of food safety throughout the Americas and will also help provide more advanced training to those who work on food production and food transport in the Americas.