FDA CO-SPONSORS PUBLIC MEETING ON FOOD SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT

Press Office
Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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August 6, 1998                 
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FDA CO-SPONSORS PUBLIC MEETING ON
FOOD SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT

Federal food safety agencies and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition are co-sponsoring a public meeting on "Food Safety Risk Assessment: Users and Needs," on Friday, August 7. The meeting is being held as part of the Food and Drug Administration's implementation of President Clinton's Food Safety Initiative.

The meeting will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the University of Maryland in the Stamp Student Union Building Atrium in College Park, Md.

Food safety specialists from academia and government agencies like the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will conduct sessions on the role of risk assessment in reducing food safety risks from microbial pathogens, and will discuss and solicit input from attendees on needs that should be addressed in establishing a food safety risk assessment information clearinghouse. A main goal of the meeting is to identify the best ways to organize this clearinghouse, which is one of the tools being established under the President's Food Safety Initiative to assist the scientific and medical community, consumers, government and the media in improving food safety practices and accurately communicating information about food-safety risks.

The science of risk assessment characterizes the nature and magnitude of risks to human health associated with various hazards. Although risk assessment methods are fairly well established for evaluating chemical contaminants in food, risk assessment is far less developed for food borne pathogens. In the May, 1997, National Food Safety Report to the President, it was noted that an intensive commitment would be necessary to develop the critically needed methods for analyzing food safety data.

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Press Office Food and Drug Administration U.S. Department of Health and Human Services