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F. F. BUSTA, National Center for Food Protection & Defense, Univ. of Minnesota, 925 Delaware St. S.E., 200 Dinnaken Office Bldg., Saint Paul, MN 55414-2934 The National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD), a Homeland Security Center of Excellence, has many examples of the approaches required for networking and data integration. This multi-university, multi-disciplinary center's goal is to identify the best ways to defend the entire food supply system with effective protection, detection, response and recovery in the event of a terrorist attack. The focus is on protection from intentional food contamination designed to have a catastrophic public health or economic result. The food system can be defended by: 1. Effectively determining the vulnerabilities of specific steps of the various processes along the entire food chain recognizing the unique aspects of terrorism 2. Reducing the likelihood of deliberate contamination at any point along the food chain, from agricultural production to the consumer 3. Developing rapid and efficient methods to identify intentional contamination 4. Enhancing strategies for responding effectively to potential deliberate contamination 5. Improving the nation's ability to lessen potential public health and economic impacts of an intentional attack on the food system 6. Expanding the pool of available personnel with expertise in food defense through interdisciplinary degree programs and specialized training. The NCFPD has identified research teams to cover eight highly integrated areas: supply chain & information management, disposal & decontamination, security in food processing, economic analysis, detection & diagnostics, risk communication, public health response & epidemiology, and educational programs. NCFPD's core groups facilitate rapid translation of research results into practice, e.g., by coordinating surge capacity among laboratories using new diagnostic tests and informing policymakers about specific strategies for responding to potential threats. Networking and data integration requires exchange and trust between and among investigators, among laboratories, among centers, among agencies, and between disciplines that function effectively across local, county, state, federal and international boundaries and jurisdictions.
Session 26, Food defense and protection: Detection of poisonous agents
2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana |