Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases
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Global Food Safety

The Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases has partnered with the Kenan Institute at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School to spearhead new food and drug safety efforts, and UNC serves as lead institution for a new multi-site international initiative.

Background

There is wide recognition that our food safety system−both in the U.S. and globally−is broken. A salmonella contamination originating in a Georgia peanut processing plant sickened more than 600 people in 44 states, killed nine, and resulted in the largest food recall in U.S. history. The 2008 melamine-adulterated milk scandal in China is still capturing headlines. The impacts of these problems include loss of consumer confidence and lives, medical costs, lost productivity, and the destruction of entire industries and regional economies.

Further, current food systems do not reflect the way people eat in a globalized world. A growing middle class is moving away from locally-produced products in favor of the increased variety and ease of processed foods. Globalization means that food products are traveling farther and faster, so that a contaminant can find its way from one continent to another in a matter of hours.

Current Initiatives

2009 International Symposium on Food and Drug Safety (ISFDS2009)
IGHID is co-sponsor of this symposium, which will be held in Beijing on June 2, 2009. The ISFDS joins industry, government, and the academy to identify key issues related to the safety of our global food and drug supply chains, especially those that link the U.S. and China. The symposium is being organized by the UNC-Tsinghua Center for Logistics and Enterprise Development.

FOODSAFE Global Initiative (FGI)
This National Science Foundation proposal is a joint submission of IGHID and the Kenan Institute. With IGHID Director Myron Cohen as co-principal investigator, this project will bring together key institutions in the largest food-consuming and -producing countries in the world−the United States, China, India, and Mexico−to address the shared global challenge of improving the safety and security of our food supply.

FGI seeks an integrated approach to research and education in food safety, uniting the various academic disciplines concerned with food systems. The initiative’s underlying and overarching goal is to help train the next-generation of U.S. researchers and professionals to respond to tomorrow’s food safety challenges through cross-disciplinary approaches.
For more information contact Noel Greis