The Food Safety Research Consortium is a collaboration among diverse research institutions to improve the effectiveness of the U.S. food safety system in reducing foodborne illness. The widely-shared vision of a science- and risk-based approach to food safety requires new analytical and decision tools for devising research, regulatory, and educational interventions and making resource allocation decisions. The Consortium is working to develop these tools.

The FSRC currently is working to complete work on its risk ranking model, which represents the first set of decision tools as outlined in the FSRC backgrounder.  It is also working on the second category of decision tools to prioritize opportunities to reduce the risk of foodborne disease.

The Milbank Memorial Fund supported the initial formation of the FSRC. The FSRC’s initial risk ranking project was funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), who have subsequently funded three additional projects on food safety information infrastructure, development of a descriptive framework for analyzing government food safety expenditures, and enhancing state and local roles in an integrated food safety system. Additional funding for the risk ranking model was provided by USDA’s National Integrated Food Safety Initiative, administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), and CSREES National Research Initiative (NRI) has also funded a major FSRC project. The USDA’s Economic Research Service and Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis, FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition have also supported FSRC programs.

For more information, read the FSRC Backgrounder (pdf 135KB).

STEERING COMMITTEE

The activities of the FSRC are planned and overseen by a Steering Committee, which is composed of one representative from each of the member institutions and the Executive Director of the FSRC. The Steering Committee is often joined by the FSRC European Scientific Liason.

Michael R. Taylor, Chair
E.R. (Rob) Atwill
Michael Batz, Executive Director
Julie A. Caswell
Michael P. Doyle
Sandra Hoffmann
Helen H. Jensen
J. Glenn Morris, Jr.
Ewen C. D. Todd

MEMBER INSTITUTIONS

There are currently eight member institutions of the FSRC, including major research universities in six different states plus Washington, DC, and a non-profit research think-tank also based in the nation's capital:

University of California, Davis: Western Institute for Food Safety and Security
University of Florida: Emerging Pathogens Institute
The George Washington University: School of Public Health and Health Services
University of Georgia: Center for Food Safety
Iowa State University: Institute for Food Safety and Security
University of Massachusetts: Food Marketing Policy Center
Michigan State University: Food Safety Policy Center
Resources for the Future