Minnesota’s Exemplary Food Safety Initiatives

Creating and facilitating strong working relationships among food systems professionals in the private sector, government, and academia are at the core of CAHFS, Dr. Wells notes. “CAHFS believes an interdisciplinary approach is required to successfully address food safety issues, drawing upon the knowledge, skills, and vision of all those involved,” he emphasizes. “Working with its partners, CAHFS strives to effectively address animal and food safety issues so that people and animals can live healthier lives.”

Continuous improvement is fostered through leadership development and skill building that utilize experiential educational designed for adult learners and the promotion of cross-sectoral applied research collaboration using systems thinking approaches, Dr. Wells adds.

“CAHFS promotes trans-disciplinary collaboration for addressing the complex food safety challenges at the interfaces of human, animal, and environmental health, bringing together experts from many disciplines to catalyze break-through thinking and new approaches using risk analysis and epidemiology,” Dr. Wells relates. “Complementing this applied research is active involvement in policy development through the summarizing of current scientific knowledge about pressing food, agriculture and nutrition related issues in simple formats using non-technical language through the UMN Food Policy Research Center.”

According to Dr. Wells, the CAHFS expands its own capacity while training the next generation of food system professionals through a two-year Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency program and a Dual Doctor of Veterinary Medicine/Master of Public Health degree program where veterinary students from any program can pursue the advanced public health training concurrently using distance education and intensive short courses.

“These degree programs are matched by a portfolio of professional development programs for graduate students and early to mid-career professionals,” Dr. Wells says. “The Food Systems Leadership Certificate provides broad understanding of food production, food policy, and food protection while expanding communication skills and critical thinking for specialists with deep expertise in a single disciplinary area.”

The Farm-to-Table experiential learning provides a week long integrated look at food production and protection in various sites around the world. Past programs have been held in Chile, Netherlands, Panama, Thailand, and Uganda, as well as the U.S.

Finally, there’s an Engaging Intergovernmental Organizations short course that takes participants to the headquarters of the World Organization for Animal Health, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

“With this short course, the organizations are demystified and participants expand their professional networks with key leaders while also learning how better to collaborate internationally,” Dr. Wells relates.

Food Safety and Defense Task Force

Congratulations are in order for Minnesota’s pace-setting Food Safety and Defense Task Force, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015.

Launched in 1990, Minnesota’s is one of the first such state task forces, if not the original task force, according to Joseph Scimeca, PhD, assistant vice president of global regulatory and scientific affairs in the Corporate Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory Affairs Department of Cargill, Wayzata, Minn.

In fact, a proclamation by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton declaring May 19, 2015 as Food Safety and Defense Task Force Day in honor of this landmark anniversary showcases the Gopher State’s leadership in this regard.

In 1990 Hubert H. Humphrey, III, then Minnesota’s Attorney General, created a Task Force on Food Safety. This new Task Force was comprised of consumers, farmers, academicians, food industry representatives, and others, all united to examine the food delivery system in Minnesota and the U.S.

The group evolved to become the Minnesota Food Safety and Defense Task Force, which is formalized under state statute. (The most recent related Minnesota statue, 28A.21 was established in 2007).

“My understanding is that now more than half the states have established similar task forces,” notes Dr. Scimeca, a Task Force member since 1999 and chair since 2005.