Food Factor

Welcome to the National Center for Food Protection and Defense's Food Factor Education page. NCFPD is pleased to supply educational materials for the FIRST LEGO League 2011 Food Factor Challenge. NCFPD will also offer a Food Protection Award to a team whose invention helps to protect the food system from intentional or catastrophic contamination.  Please see the Global Innovation Award page for more information on all prizes.

 

 
 
 

Food Factor Podcast

January 13, 2012
NCFPD Podcast - Cheesemaking Video

NCFPD (the National Center for Food Protection and Defense) shows the process of cheesemaking in the University of Minnesota's Pilot Plant. Ray Miller, Coordinator of Pilot Plant Services, takes us through the steps of making white cheddar, and the precautions taken to make the cheese safe for consumption.

http://www.ncfpd.umn.edu/

http://fscn.cfans.umn.edu/researchandservices/pilotplant/index.htm

January 5, 2012
NCFPD Podcast - Food Protection

NCFPD's Elizabeth Cunningham and Kendra McCormack interview Shaun Kennedy and Amy Kircher, Director and Associate Director of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, about food protection and defense.

December 13, 2011
NCFPD Podcast - Inspector

NCFPD's Kendra McCormack and Elizabeth Cunningham interview Jim Topie, an Agriculture Consultant with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Dairy and Food Inspection division, about food inspections.

December 9, 2011
NCFPD Podcast - Grocery

NCFPD's Kendra McCormack and Elizabeth Cunningham interview Dave Wiemer of SUPERVALU about food safety and defense in the grocery business.

November 15, 2011
NCFPD Podcast - Transportation

NCFPD's Amy Kircher interviews her uncle Vernon Schroeder of Schroeder Transfer, a trucking company in Minnesota. Mr. Schroeder has a long career of transporting food and livestock.

October 17, 2011
NCFPD Podcast - Farmer

NCFPD's Elizabeth Cunningham and Kendra McCormack interview Farmer Bruce Bacon of Garden Farme, an organic farm in Ramsey, Minnesota. Farmer Bacon grows lettuces and greens for restaurants in the Minneapolis area.

Food Factor Blog

January 26, 2012
Popular press tackles the value of independent third party food safety audits

·  This week USA Today ran competing editorials on the value of food safety audits. ("Food Safety Auditors too tied to the industry" Versus "Food Safety is more than about audits" )

·  These are a reflection of the increased scrutiny of the role of independent third party food safety audits following the Listeriosis outbreak from Cantaloupes last year.

Comments(0)
December 8, 2011
FDA Enlists States to Finish Egg Rule Inspections
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is going to require a big finish, but it apparently remains on target to complete new egg rule inspections of all 517 American egg producers with 50,000 or more laying hens by Dec.  31. In a recently released summary of its progress, FDA disclosed that it has more than 100 of its own inspectors on the egg rule beat and that it has signed up 10 states that are providing additional expertise to get the job done.
  • With as many as 222 inspections left for the final quarter, which ends Dec. 31, it might seem like making the goal is a stretch. However, for the first time, FDA said it has inked contacts and off-loaded 136 inspections to Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
  • The Egg Safety Rule requires shell egg producers to implement measures to prevent Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) from contaminating eggs on the farm and from further growth during storage and transportation. SE is among the leading bacterial causes of foodborne illness in the United States, and shell eggs are a primary source of human SE infections. The final rule will reduce SE-associated illnesses and deaths by reducing the risk that shell eggs are contaminated with SE.
  • http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/12/fda-enlists-states-to-finish-egg-rule-inspections/ http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/EggSafety/EggSafetyActionPlan/ucm170746.htm

 

Shauna Voss

Veterinary Public Health Resident

Center for Animal health and Food Safety

Email: vosssj@umn.edu

 

Comments(0)
December 5, 2011
Meat Industry Asks FSIS to Delay Non-O157 Testing

 

  • In a public teleconference Thursday, the meat industry criticized the government's new plan to test beef trim and ground beef for six more strains of pathogenic E. coli in addition to O157:H7 - the only one now considered an adulterant.  Consumer groups, however, cautioned against any delay.
  • On Sept. 12, the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced its intention to begin testing beef for six strains of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli -- O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 and O145 -- known as the Big Six.  Testing is scheduled to begin in March, which meat producers say is too soon.
  • Several beef exporters joined in the teleconference, saying their countries don't see the six STECs as a major problem and that the testing requirement could disrupt trade. A representative from the Meat Importer Council of America noted that World Trade Organization rules require food-safety regulations to be grounded in science, adding "It's our view that the determination of the other six STECs to be adulterants is not justified by the data and is premature in its implementation."

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/12/meat-industry-asks-fsis-to-delay-non-o157-testing/

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Frame/FrameRedirect.asp?main=http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2010-0023PM.htm

 

Shauna Voss

Veterinary Public Health Resident

Center for Animal health and Food Safety

Email: vosssj@umn.edu

 

 

Comments(0)
More Results: