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Jun 7, 2022
Today is World Food Safety Day (WFSD)! A day dedicated to shining an even greater spotlight on the need for safer food practices and food safety education globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined WFSD 2022, as an annual celebration to “draw attention and mobilize action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks and improve human health”.
Here at the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention (CFI), we undoubtedly agree. For this reason, CFI actively facilitates, encourages and conducts research that increases our knowledge about foodborne disease and/or leads to science-based solutions to current food safety challenges.
Through a variety of ongoing international and domestic research projects focused on shifting the food safety paradigm, CFI is committed in working towards translating science into practical, evidence-informed policies and practices that prevent foodborne disease and protect public health.
Our international research currently focuses on Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter in raw beef and dairy in Ethiopia, through the TARTARE project. The Chakula Salama project centers around Salmonella and Campylobacter in small-scale poultry production and risk ranking in Kenya. PESAR, our project in Guatemala, looks at estimating mycotoxin exposure from maize and increasing food security. And the FAIRE project focuses on the impact of certified food protection managers (CFPMs) on foodborne illness risk factors within the U.S.
Take today to look at ways in which you can stay informed, support food safety research, and inspire awareness!
Source:
World Health Organization. (2022, March 03). World Food Safety Day 2022. World Health Organization. Retrieved June 04, 2022, from https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-food-safety-day/2022
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Apr 27, 2022
CFI is excited to announce that our Executive Director, Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk, has been appointed as chair of the FDA Science Board. Dr. Kowalcyk was first appointed as a member of the FDA Science Board in 2013 and is honored to be appointed as chair.
Click here to read the OSU press release.
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Apr 19, 2022
Summary from Food Safety News:
"Spring is here, even if the weather might not quite feel like it yet in some parts of the country. It’s a great time to get started on some spring cleaning.
According to the CDC, every year, an estimated 1 in 6 Americans get food poisoning, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases. A clean and dry kitchen helps protect you and your family from foodborne illness.
Fight BAC!: The Partnership for Food Safety Education has some tips on how to keep your clean kitchen:
It’s important to know the difference between cleaning and sanitizing. They aren’t the same thing. Both are important to help prevent the spread of harmful germs...."
Click here to read the whole article
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Feb 8, 2022
The Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention (CFI) at The Ohio State University is pleased to announce that Katie Stolte-Carroll has joined our team as the Project Coordinator. In this role, she will provide technical support for the microbiological testing being conducted in multiple food safety research studies; assist with the daily management and support of CFI’s research projects; procure the shipment of equipment and supplies for various projects, engage in project planning and the compilation of annual reports; monitor study timelines, and revise project/program-specific Gantt charts. For 8 years Katie has utilized her expertise in Veterinary Public Health and Biology with an Agriculture emphasis, to advance the organizational systems and specialized practices of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Katie Stolte-Carroll has long remained committed to health and wellness, personal growth and engagement, student support and education, and fostering the development of emerging leaders. For nearly two decades, she has set and far exceeded personal and professional aspirations.
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Jan 30, 2022
The Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention (CFI) at The Ohio State University is pleased to announce that Mary Parker has joined our team as the lead Grants and Contracts Specialist. In this role, she will work closely with the project manager on the budgets for the TARTARE, Chakula Salama, and FAIRE projects. Mary has spent the last twenty years working in various areas of community leadership; dedicating her time to working with groups such as military spouses and the Girl Scouts of America. Mary has worked as a Certified Public Accountant for Ravid & Bernstein, served as a Senior Tax Accountant for Ernst & Young, was a supervisor for Strothman & Company, and volunteered as an income tax assistant for military soldiers, dependents, and civilians overseas. Mary has ample experience supervising audit teams, preparing tax returns, and performing various functions of audit, review, and compilations at a variety of industry levels.
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Nov 15, 2021
Risk ranking and risk prioritization are key tools for a risk-based decision-making system. For food safety and environmental risks, many examples of how to analyze risks for a risk ranking have been published. What has been missing is a how-to guide for the steps before the ranking. The FAO Guide for Ranking Risks at a National Level came out in 2020 to fill that gap. The FAO Guide lays out the process at a high level, but detail is lacking. Our team has conducted two applications of the first step in the FAO Guide, namely, the scoping workshop. In this SRA workshop, we will share our experiences and lessons learned for a successful implementation of this phase, and provide some early thinking about the next phases of the process. Join us if you expect to be conducting a risk ranking in the future, so you can build on what we have learned.
Click here to register
Instructor: Dr. Kara Morgan
Co-Organizers: Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk and Dr. Arie Havelaar
Date: Friday, December 10, 2021
Time: 8AM-12PM (half-day)
Cost: General registration fee - $80 for half-day workshops
Student registration fee - $35 for half-day workshops
(students should use the main registration portal to register for the workshop but they do not need to register for the conference)
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Nov 8, 2021
CFI’s Director, Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk, will be speaking at the first African Continental Association for Food Protection (ACAFP) Virtual Food Safety Conference for Africa hosted by the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP).
Title: “Risk-based Food Safety Systems in Africa: Experiences from Two Collaborative Projects”
Date: Thursday, November 11th, 2021
Time: 8:50am-9:00am EST
Conference Description: "The conference theme is “Food Safety in Africa, Past, Current and The Future” and includes five sub-themes that address this theme. The African Continental Association for Food Protection (ACAFP) is an IAFP Affiliate that provides a forum for food safety professionals in industry, international organizations, government, academia, and students in food safety programs to share information and experiences on food safety-related issues on the Continent of Africa and to share ideas on how to improve the quality and safety of foods produced in the Continent as well as imported and exported food products."
There is a fee to attend and registration is required: https://acafp2021.org.za/registration/
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Nov 1, 2021
Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk, the Director of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, was recently quoted in a news story that addressed the increase of contaminated Australian meat shipments coming into the United States. Some of the shipments contained fecal contamination which may be due, in part, to the fact that many companies in Australia inspect their own meat instead of relying on regulated government inspectors.
Click here to read the article.
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Oct 14, 2021
Please join us for our CFI Webinar scheduled for Wednesday, October 27th from 12:00pm-1:00pm EDT.
Registration Link: https://osu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZDmrb6ZlSTulkzOYKDUUww
Experts from academia, industry, and government have long recommended the development of a data-driven approach for improving food safety. Vast amounts of data are collected throughout the food system – on the farm, in processing, during distribution and at retail – but limited sharing makes it difficult to access this information for effective decision-making.
What is needed to effectively and efficiently use existing data to inform decision-making? The panelists will share their perspective and identify how to move food safety towards this goal of better information to make informed food safety decisions.
Panelists:
Melody Ge - VP of Governance, Intelligence, Analytics at Corvium; Founder of Women in Food Safety
Andrew Kennedy - New Era Technology Team Leader at FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Suzy Sawyer - Food, Safety, Quality & Regulatory Data Lead at Cargill
Moderator:
Barbara Kowalcyk - Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention
This event will be presented with automated closed captions. If you wish to request traditional CART services or other accommodations, please contact Ashley Cellar at cellar.21@osu.edu or 614-753-3850. Requests made by October 18th will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
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Aug 23, 2021
Women play an important but often unrecognized role in the safe production of milk and milk products, particularly in Ethiopia. Dairy products can be contaminated with biological chemical, and physical hazards. This article reviews literature on the microbiological and/or gendered aspects of milk handling in Ethiopia. To reduce foodborne disease and improve overall family health, there is a need to combine food safety research with gender sensitive interventions in Ethiopia.
Click here to read the article in the International Dairy Journal.
