US food safety initiative aims to contain contamination at the source

A new public-private initiative seeks to advance the US strategy of defending against contaminated food imports at the source, rather than the border.

The University of Maryland and the Waters Corporation will build and operate the first US-based laboratory for training foreign food producers - an important step in building the foreign scientific capacity needed to uncover contamination before commodities ship. At the new facility, they will be taught US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved microbiological and chemical analytical procedures.

"Inspection at the border is not an option," said Jianghong Meng, who directs the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (Jifsan), the University of Maryland-FDA centre that will operate the lab and conduct the training.

"We import so much food from other countries that the FDA can only inspect about 1% of it," Meng explained. "The answer is to control contamination at the source."

The new facility - the International Food Safety Training Laboratory (IFSTL) - will teach an estimated 200 foreign food and government workers per year. It will be based in College Park at the University of Maryland, and is expected to open in July 2011.

With an investment valued at more than US$4 million, the Waters Corporation will build and equip the facility and assist in designing the programme. Waters is a major manufacturer of laboratory equipment used to detect and measure the presence of chemical contaminants in food. Its investment is an essential driving force in the project.

Highlighting the risks of food contamination, Meng points to a 2008 outbreak of salmonella that sickened more than 1,400 people, traced back to conditions at a Mexican pepper farm. Another is the 2008 scandal involving Chinese milk and infant formula, which had been adulterated with melamine. Several babies died and 300,000 people in China got sick.

"Waters Corporation is committed to bridging the gap between governments and industry to ensure the best science and most innovative technologies are used to make our food safe," said Waters Corporation chairman, president and CEO Douglas A. Berthiaume. "We are proud to join with the University of Maryland to create this laboratory that will bolster the capabilities of both the FDA and our global partners as we work together to improve food safety."