Collaborations
Founded in 2006 to help America find innovative, science-based solutions for the food challenges of the 21st Century, CFI believes that all stakeholders – government regulators, industry, consumer groups, educators, medical providers and policy makers – share the responsibility of building a strong and effective food safety system to protect all Americans from foodborne illness. Truly, no one sector can achieve this alone. Therefore, CFI seeks to collaborate with other food safety stakeholders by participating in national, regional and local food safety initiatives, meetings and conferences. CFI also serves on national advisory committees and other important food safety forums.
Current Collaborations
- National Academies of Science
- National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection
- National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods
- Partnership for Food Safety Education
- The Pew Charitable Trusts
- Safe Food Coalition
- Make Our Food Safe Coalition
National Academies of Science (NAS)
CFI’s CEO, Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk, was one of the authors for the NAS 2010 report, Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration. She has served on the following NAS committees:
- Standing Committee on Use of Public Health Data in FSIS Food Safety Programs
- Committee on Review of the Food and Drug Administration’s Role in Ensuring Safe Food
The National Academies Institute of Medicine’s Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources Standing Committee on Use of Public Health Data in FSIS Food Safety Programs was formed at the request of USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to evaluate the use of public health data in FSIS food safety programs. The Standing Committee oversees the work of separately appointed ad hoc committees. The ad hoc committees will review data collected by FSIS, as well as the methodology they used in risk assessments, to help FSIS determine the best way to implement risk-based inspection. The Standing Committee is composed of 29 experts from academia, industry and public health.
The National Academies Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council formed the Committee on Review of the Food and Drug Administration’s Role in Ensuring Safe Food to undertake a study to examine gaps in public health protection provided by the farm-to-table food safety system under the purview of the FDA and identify opportunities to fill those gaps. The Committee is composed of 12 experts from academia, industry and public health.
National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection
CFI Director of Outreach & Education, Patricia Buck, is currently serving her first term on USDA’s National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI), Previously, CFI volunteer Michael Kowalcyk served three terms on NACMPI. The major role of NACMPI is to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on food safety policies that will contribute to USDA's regulatory policy development. NACMPI’s agenda is set by USDA and driven by current food safety issues of concern to consumers and policy issues that affect USDA or any food regulatory agency.
Additional Information on NACMPI
National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods
Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk has completed her two term appointment on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), NACMPI provides provides impartial, scientific advice to federal food safety agencies. NACMCF is co-sponsored by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Additional Information on NACMCF
Partnership for Food Safety Education
Patricia Buck, now CFI’s Director of Outreach & Education, served on the Partnership for Food Safety Education’s Board of Directors from 2007-2010. PFSE is a non-profit education organization that works to improve public health through research-based, actionable consumer food safety initiatives that reduce foodborne illness. PFSE unites representatives from industry associations, professional societies in food science, nutrition and health consumer groups, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration in important initiatives to educate the public about preventing foodborne illness.
Additional Information on PFSE
CFI collaborated with The Pew Charitable Trusts to produce a scientific white paper on The Long-Term Health Outcomes of Selected Foodborne Pathogens, which was published on November 12, 2009. This white paper reviews the current literature on the long-term health outcomes of selected foodborne pathogens, identify gaps and suggest future research. In December 2009, CFI collaborated with The Pew Charitable Trusts to produce a fact sheet entitled Children and Foodborne Illness, which was endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Additional Information on Pew’s Food Safety Initiative
CFI is an active member of the Safe Food Coalition (SFC), a group of consumer, public health, whistleblower and labor organizations created in 1986 with the goal of reducing foodborne illness by improving government food inspection programs. SFC was founded by Carol Tucker Foreman, former Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Food and Consumer Services (1977-1981) and Distinguished Fellow of the Food Policy Institute at Consumer Federation of America. Currently, Chris Waldrop, Director of CFA’s Food Policy Institute, is serving as SFC’s coordinator.
SFC member organizations, besides CFI, currently include:
- American Public Health Association
- Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
- Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
- Consumers Union (CU)
- Food & Water Watch (FFW)
- Government Accountability Project (GAP)
- National Consumers League (NCL)
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Produce Safety Project (PSP)
- STOP Foodborne Illness, formerly Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.)
- Trust for America’s Health
- United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW)
For more information on the Make Our Food Safe Coalition please visit www.makeourfoodsafe.org