For Immediate Release: August 9, 2007
Contact: Amy Philpott (202) 303-3425, aphilpott@unitedfresh.org
(Washington, DC) - The First International Food Safety Research Symposium on Lettuce and Leafy Greens will be held September 20-21, 2007 in Washington, DC, USA. The symposium will be organized by the United Fresh Research and Education Foundation, in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, University of California Postharvest Technology Research & Information Center, and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
“This invitation only event is designed to bring together scientists from government, academia and industry from around the world to share information about research related to the safety of leafy greens, and discuss future research priorities,” said Dr. David Gombas, senior vice president of food safety and technology for United Fresh Produce Association. “This symposium will allow us to share information among different universities, government agencies and industry who are all conducting research to better understand how best to protect the safety of leafy greens from production through processing and delivery to the consumer’s table.”
“The FDA is very pleased to participate in the upcoming meeting on research priorities for leafy greens," said Dr. Bob Buchanan, senior science advisor for FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "Our experience is that meetings such as this one are critical to finding practical solutions that solve pressing public health concerns.”
The symposium is sponsored in part by grants to the Foundation from Dole Food Company and Fresh Express.
“Our goal in helping to sponsor this research workshop is to increase common knowledge about what research has been done, what is under way, and what the priorities should be for future funding,” said Dr. Tom Farewell, vice president, Worldwide R&D and Quality Assurance for Dole Food Company. “This symposium comes at an important time because federal and other researchers very soon will be setting their priorities in food safety research for the coming year.”
“Fresh Express has funded nine separate research projects in this area, all of which are already underway as part of our larger food safety initiative, said Jim Lugg, food safety chief, Fresh Express. “We believe this symposium will be extremely valuable in helping to identify and address the most critical areas of research as well as in providing a means for our government partners, like USDA and FDA, and other collaborators to better focus and coordinate our collective efforts,” he said.
“The United Fresh Food Safety and Technology Council is also pleased to support this symposium because one of the Council’s most important goals is to broaden the attention on food safety research needs across the produce industry,” said Dr. Barry Eisenberg, co-chairman of the Council and vice president, technical services for River Ranch Fresh Foods.
“It’s important for all of us in industry, government and academia to understand what research has been conducted, what may be already underway, and what priorities should be for the future,” said Dr. Gombas. “All key scientists and stakeholders in leafy greens research will be invited to participate, which should help us all avoid duplicative efforts and ensure that research dollars are invested most efficiently,” he said. Results of the symposium will be published and shared with the leafy greens research community worldwide.
For more information about the symposium, please contact Dr. David Gombas, dgombas@unitedfresh.org, 202-303-3411.
