... A Compilation of Progress Reports III
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Summer 2002

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Texas
By Dan Sowards

AUSTIN - The Texas Food Safety Task Force has met twice since the last report.  Our primary objective has been to develop and host a 1.5 day Food Safety and Security Symposium.  That is coming to fruition on September 11-12 at the Hilton Hotel in Arlington, Texas.

We have developed an outstanding program that includes nationally renown speakers.  The keynote speech will be presented by Dr. Elsa Murano, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety.  Presenters on Food Security include Dr. Rhona Applebaum, Vice President of the National Food Processors Association; Mr. Tim Weigner, Director of Food Safety for the Food Marketing Institute; Mr. Robert Brackett, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; and Mr. George Hughes, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations.  On the food safety side, discussing various new and "improved" food safety technologies, are Dr. Suzanne Barth, Section Chief, Bureau of Laboratories, on improved uses for pulsed field gel electrophoresis; Mr. Mark Fleck, Avure Industries discussing high pressure "pasteurization" of foods; and Mr. Doug Johnson, Manager of the Surebeam/Texas A&M eBeam irradiation facilities, discussing the pros and cons of food irradiation.  Mr. Reggie James, Director, Consumers Union Southwest, will be moderating. 

Also, Dr. Richard Cheatham, Professor, Southwest Texas State University, will  address the subject of "Coping with Personal and Professional Changes," a subject very appropriate to today's food safety and security climate in which we live and work.  Mr. Dan Sowards will also provide an update on the Association of Food and Drug Officials' efforts in the development of guidance documents for the processing of various types of foods at retail, and effort needed by both state and local regulatory officials and industry to deal with the issue of "variances" within the FDA Food Code.

Registration for the Symposium is limited to the first 175 received.  Registration fees are quite reasonable at $50.00 for regulatory and $125.00 or all others.  Hotel accommodations at the Hilton are at the state per diem rate of $80.00 per night, with a cutoff date of August 27th.  FDA has already distributed the registration form, program agenda and additional information on the Symposium via their email system.  For registration forms, hotel information, etc. please contact Mr. Dan Sowards at 512-719-0243 or Mr. Steve McAndrew at 512-719-0243.

In addition to the Symposium, the Task Force has been examining another critical issue, that is the use of improper rules for inspection of food manufacturing and food wholesale establishments.  An informal survey conducted by one of the Task Force's three work groups determined that over 75 percent of the local health departments in Texas permit and inspect these facilities using their retail food codes, rather than the Good Manufacturing Practices regulations or other applicable regulations such as Seafood HACCP, Low Acid Canned Foods, Acidified Foods, Bottled and Vended Water regulations, the Food Salvage Code, and so forth.  The Task Force will make some concrete recommendations on this issue at a later date.

Wisconsin
By Byron J. Dennison

MADISON – The Wisconsin Food Safety Task Force (Steering Committee) continues to meet bi-monthly. The objectives of the “Wisconsin Food Safety Task Force” are to:

• Identify and prioritize food safety issues, problems and concerns.
• Identify efforts in progress to improve Wisconsin’s food safety system.
• Build connections to and provide support for identified improvement efforts.
• Build Wisconsin-specific improvements in areas determined to be unique and important for the state’s food businesses and consumers.

The “Steering Committee” is composed of representatives from industry, Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection, Department of Health and Family Services, academia, local health departments, Department of Public Instruction and a consumer representative.  Some of the issues on their agenda are:

• Coordinate training efforts in the Wisconsin Food Code.
• Improve communication and information sharing on food safety issues between regulatory agencies, industry, academia and public education.
• Enhance consumer food safety education, awareness and information.
• Promote the Wisconsin Conference for Food Protection.
• Create a Food Distribution Workgroup.
• Evaluate the “Value-added” industry in Wisconsin.
• Promote university system graduates to consider “Public Health” careers.

The Steering Committee continues to be active by addressing the above issues throughout the past year. Training efforts in the Wisconsin Food Code for regulators is nearly complete. The Wisconsin Conference for Food Protection was held in January 2001 with 10 issues identified and submitted to the National Conference for Food Protection in Nashville. The Steering Committee has contributed in many areas of food safety by increasing communication and education efforts for food safety issues in Wisconsin.

Virginia
By Ryan Davis

RICHMOND - The Virginia Food Safety Task Force held its first meeting on September 8, 1999.  Since then, the Task Force has held nine additional meetings, with the most recent being held on July 9, 2002.  Over the course of these meetings, several guest speakers have been invited to share additional information on current hot topics. 

In April 2001, Dr. Bruce Akey and Jay Crane from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) spoke on Bovine Spongiform Encephalapathy (BSE) or “Mad Cow’s Disease” relative to animal and human health concerns, as well as, to the standards of animal feed. 

The following October, Denise Toney from the Division of Consolidated Laboratories in Virginia shared some pertinent information on Federal and State surveillance initiatives.  She spoke extensively on two food-borne disease surveillance networks, Food Net and Pulse Net.  She also went on to explain that DNA fingerprinting can now be used in bacteria and is longer limited to humans. 

Rohna Applebaum, NFPA gave a presentation on food security after the attacks on September 11th.  She explained a little about the Alliance for Food Security and that it was made up of 95 representatives from various federal, state, and local agencies.  She said that the Alliance tries to provide industry with what needs to be done and then allows the industry to decide how to best apply it to their operation. 

Val Jefferson, Arlington County Health Department, spoke most recently on how she and her agency responded to food donations, volunteer soup kitchens, and other food service vendors that were set up around the perimeter of the Pentagon after the attack on 9-11.  She explained how her agency was involved in ensuring that the food supplied to rescue workers at the Pentagon was safe and wholesome.  

The Task Force has also been diligently working on creating food safety materials related especially to handwashing over the past several months.  Laminated posters and signs have been developed for distribution to retail operations.  The handwashing materials are provided in both English and Spanish.  These signs and posters should be ready for distribution very soon.