Wv Food Safety and Defense Task Force

Summary:The WV Food Safety and Defense Task Force is an assembled group of 30 individualswith varying food safety and defense expertise. The Task Force routinely meets twiceper year to collaborate on innovations in food safety, as well as various topics of interestrelated to food. The Task Force meets in different locations in the state in order toinclude additional local health department representation at the meetings. The TaskForce meetings are well attended. The participants are representatives from Industry,Academia, Local and State Regulators and Consumers. Industry representatives arefrom small independent food operators and large chain firms as well as small foodprocessors. Long term goals of the Task Force are:¿ Relationship building between Regulators and Industry¿ Review Food Code changes and make forward progress in adopting the most up to date Model Food Code¿ Learn about and share information on advances in Food Safety and Defense¿ Collaborate on various initiatives in the food arena, i.e. Farm to School programsThe Task Force uses consensus as a means of agreement on issues of discussion anda method of moving forward recommendations for changes in policy or procedure of theFood Program at the Local and State level.The Task Force will be focusing on food defense and intentional food contamination inthe next budget period. Panel discussions are often used to bring forward informationfrom several presenters on the same subject. All participants will have the opportunityto provide information and to ask questions of the panel. The Task Force will alsocontinue to review recommendations from the Conference for Food Protection and FDAfor changes to WV food establishment regulations.Collaborative efforts of the Task Force participants will positively impact the health of allfood consumers in WV. Policy and regulations are revised based on deliberationswithin the Task Force. Food safety awareness campaigns brought about through theTask Force will enhance the ability of the consumer to protect themselves and theirfamily.