The leading food safety agencies–U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)–recently announced they will hold a public meeting focused on food attribution, otherwise known as linking illnesses to specific food products. The meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 31, 2012.
“The purpose of the daylong meeting will be to discuss federal approaches to food source attribution and outline efforts to develop harmonized food source attribution fractions to inform food safety strategies,” according to the announcement. “The meeting also will be used to review a draft Strategic Plan developed by the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC), which was formed this year to increase collaboration on analytic projects.”
Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to register in advance–space is limited. Advance registration closes on Jan. 25, 2012. Electronic registration can be completed online here. The deadline to register to make public comments during the meeting is Jan. 9, 2012.
The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jan. 31, 2012, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s South Building Cafeteria, 14th & Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250.
For more information, to request to make an oral presentation, or to request special accommodations due to a disability, contact: Juanita Yates, FDA, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 240-402-1731, e-mail: juanita.yates@fda.hhs.gov, or Joan Lindenberger at FSIS at 202-720-6755.
