Institute for Food Safety: 2012 Major Priority for Florida State College at Jacksonville

“Another day, another food recall,” may sound like an exaggeration, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million Americans—that’s one in six people—get sick from food-borne illness every year. 180,000 people are hospitalized and 3,000 people die.

These statistics can’t help but make you wonder if the food in your fridge is safe to eat.

“There are stories in the media about seafood and general food safety issues every week, sometimes every day,” says President Steven Wallace, Florida State College at Jacksonville.

President Barack Obama recently signed into law the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which is considered the largest reform on national food safety in more than 80 years. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it.

Part of the prevention plan requires the FDA to hire more field safety inspectors and food safety experts—2,500 more of these food safety professionals by 2014.

To meet the increased need, Florida State College at Jacksonville offers a new track in its biotechnology program to educate and train students to work in the field of food safety

The College is partnering with Eurofins, an international food testing company, to provide students unparalleled professional training.

The College and Eurofins have created a co-laboratory at the Advanced Technology Center. There are two side-by-side state-of-the-art labs—with common spaces and equipment. The advantages for students are clear. Students train on equipment they’ll use on the job. Students also get to learn from the pros working right through that glass door. They don’t have to leave campus.

“This takes us up into a new and higher league,” says Professor R. Kevin Pegg, Florida State College at Jacksonville.

“We’re going to create a career path for students that will ultimately pair the practical skills and the sciences leading to professionals equipped to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation eliminating the need for eight years of education to acquire a PhD,” says Wester.

And this is just phase one. With a grant from the National Science Foundation as well as support from major players in the food industry—including Jacksonville-based Beaver Street Fisheries—the College plans to create an Institute for Food Safety.

“It will give us a place to develop and offer continuing education for seafood industry and seafood testing professionals. It will also allow the College to finally reach the level of an academic and research center, perhaps with a national presence that works with the FDA, USDA, and the seafood industry and eventually broader food areas. The institute will also serve to provide resources for the further development of seafood safety technology,” says Wallace.

“The plan is to have a 20,000 square foot building,” says Harry Frisch, CEO, Beaver Street Fisheries Inc.

Harry Frisch is the CEO of Beaver Street Fisheries, which is one of the nation’s largest importers of frozen seafood. Frisch says his business has thrived for more than 60 years because of its commitment to food safety and quality.

“If something is not perfect, I do not want to take it home to my family. If I don’t want to take it to my family, I don’t want you to go into the store and buy something and get sick, whatever it is,” says Frisch.

To maintain that level of perfection, Beaver Street currently has to arrange for its food to be tested in out-of-state laboratories. Having the Institute for Food Safety just miles from the Jacksonville warehouse facility will save the company time and money. Frisch believes the facility will also bring new business into the city.

“There is nothing but growth in front of us. We will have a presence on the Jacksonville map, like it or not,” says Frisch.
 

Click here to read Florida Times-Union Reporter David Bauerlein's recent report on IFS.