1. Meeting Today’s Food Safety Challenges at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture An Overview of Food Safety Programs Jan Singleton, PhD, RDN Director, Food Safety Division

2. USDA’s primary extramural research agency Supports the work of scientists and educators to solve complex, societal problems Uses an integrated approach to science NIFA

3. Food Security and Hunger Climate Change Sustainable Energy Childhood Obesity Prevention Food Safety Societal Challenges Facing our Nation

4. Integrates research, education, and extension  Moves from theory to practice  Support ground-breaking research  Generate knowledge  Translate knowledge into sound, practical interventions  Transfer knowledge to people  Meet the needs of people “where they are”  Discoveries go beyond the laboratory  Focus is on putting knowledge to practice Integrated Approach to Science

5. NIFA Food Safety Programs Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) –Food Safety –Food Quality –Food Processing –Food Security –Food Defense –Nanotechnology –Water –Climate

6. NIFA Food Safety Programs Specialty Crops Research Initiative –Fruits and tree nuts –Culinary herbs and spices –Nursery, floriculture, and horticulture crops –Medicinal plants Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Food Safety Outreach Program Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative

7. Prevention, Control of Salmonella and Campylobacter in Poultry Flocks, Poultry Products, Including Eggs  Identify risk factors  Develop intervention and risk management strategies  Focus on both pre-and postharvest environments  Develop guidelines and recommendations for best practices Program Priorities

8. Prevention, detection, control of STEC in beef  Identify risk factors, pre- and postharvest  Focus on small, medium, large operations  Develop intervention and risk management strategies  Develop valid sampling plans and detection methods Microbial ecology and STEC shedding in cattle  Identify host and environmental factors  Develop, apply economical control strategies Program Priorities

9. Prevention, Detection, Control of Foodborne Viruses  Focus on norovirus  Evaluate occurrence and fate in food  Develop, evaluate low-level detection methods  Develop intervention and risk management strategies Food Processing Technologies to Destroy Foodborne Pathogens  Develop novel, effective, affordable processing technologies  Involve partnerships with government, universities, and industry  Commercialize new or improved technologies through partnerships with government and industry Program Priorities

10. Effective Mitigation Strategies for Antimicrobial Resistance  Identify, characterize mechanisms for resistance  Identify, characterize spread and persistence of resistance  Focus on agriculture, aquaculture, industrial practices  Develop, implement, evaluate mitigation strategies Improving the Safety of Fresh and Fresh-cut Produce  Understand the ecology of pathogens in various environments  Develop control strategies to reduce/eliminate contamination  Develop novel non-thermal food processing technologies Program Priorities

11. Improving Methods for Pathogen Detection  Sampling strategies  Concentration/purification methods  Whole genome sequencing Reducing Food Allergens by Improving Food Quality  Characterize biochemical, biophysical properties of allergens  Develop methods to reduce allergenicity  Maintain quality of food and food ingredients Program Priorities

12. Addressing Critical and Emerging Food Safety Issues  Reduce known or unidentified foodborne contaminants  Identify novel food vehicles transporting known threats  Assess potential risk for threats to health National Education Programs for Food Safety  Develop innovative, research-based programs  Address graduate, undergraduate, formal, non-formal education  Develop educational methodologies that are target-specific  Focus on transdisciplinary programs  Microbiology, virology, agronomy, food technology, engineering, public health, economics, social science, evaluation, curriculum development Program Priorities

13. NIFA Food Safety Programs Award $50 million each year Average of 90 awards Awards range from $35,000 to $5M Conference grants - $50,000 Encourage partnerships International collaborators Integrate social sciences

14. NIFA’s Role in the U.S. Food Safety System 19 Federal Food Safety Agencies –Monitoring and surveillance –Regulation and Enforcement –Food Assistance –Research –Education and Outreach President’s Food Safety Task Force Office of Science and Technology Policy Partnership for Food Safety Education The Food Safety Modernization Act

15. Implementing FSMA The Food Safety Outreach Program –New collaboration between NIFA and FDA –Supports changes in the Food Safety Modernization Act –Focuses on education, outreach, and training –Targets audiences least likely to have access –Establishes and national infrastructure –Links community-based organizations to the national infrastructure

16. Future Research Needs Continued focus on persistent challenges Critical and emerging pathogens Impacts of climate variability Antimicrobial resistance (using a Systems Approach) Food security - Feeding 9 billion people Water scarcity

17. Questions ????

18. Contact Information: Jan Singleton, Director, Food Safety Division jsingleton@nifa.usda.gov 202-401-1954 http://intranet.nifa.usda.gov/ jsingleton@nifa.usda.gov