Symposia on Microbial Foodborne Hazards

This leading-edge conference has met every two years for over 25 years and includes scientists and food safety experts from universities, government, and industry.This conference is significant to U.S. agriculture in that it provides a forum for world-renowned experts to discuss issues, exchange ideas, and develop potential solutions to a myriad of food safety problems. For example,this years program addressed a number of issues facing U.S. agriculture including Bovine Somatotrophic Encephalopathy and related problems, the use of DNA-based methods for the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens, the epidemiology of bacterial foodborne illness, food safety objectives as an approach to protecting our food supply, and newly-evolving food safety issues. FMRCXVIII was held November 4-7, 2001 in Chicago and had between 100-150 scientists and food safety experts from around the world in attendance. Funding for this conference wasused to help defray travel costs for speakers with national/international stature who otherwise would not have been able to attend the conference. The issues discussed at this conference have direct relevance to protecting the U.S. food supply in a global economy.