Toronto (Canada) plays host next Tuesday and Wednesday to the 6th Annual North American Summit on Food Safety. Topics being covered include some very relevant issues in food biotechnology, such as pathogen management and building safety into food. A presentation on the latter, by Dr. Rick Holley (Dept. of Food Sciences, University of Manitoba), marks the beginning of the summit on Tuesday. I spoke with Dr. Holley today to get a preview of his presentation. Admittedly vocal with respect to government involvement in food safety, the take home message of Dr. Holleys presentation is that "we can't inspect food safety, we have to build it in". Applied biotechnologists should take this as a challenge to find ways to put food products together in such a way as to be "inhospitable to bacteria". Dr. Holley's own work utilizes a unique cascade of events that capitalize on the antimicrobial properties of mustard, in the production of sausages (watch my next blog for the fascinating details).
Another noteworthy presentation at the summit is by keynote speaker and USDA representative Dr. James Adams. His talk will outline the key regulations to comply with if you want to do business with the United States, and will forecast some possible future initiatives - something those working with GMOs won't want to miss, since the USDA has regulatory jurisdiction over transgenic crops.
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