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Pictures of Health Fall 2004
Defending Home Plate
A $15 million grant will bring together some of the University’s finest minds to address critical issues in food protection and defense.
By Erin Peterson
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Will Hueston, director of the University's Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, discusses food security with, from right, University President Robert Bruininks, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, and others. |
The scenario sounds like a Michael Crichton thriller: Terrorists attack the nation’s food supply, contaminating warehouses of food, fields of produce, and restaurant salad bars before anyone realizes anything is awry. Soon, thousands of people across the country are getting sick and dying, and experts must scramble to determine what has happened, how to stop it, and how to keep it from happening again.
With the help of the University of Minnesota, experts hope that such a scene will remain only in the imagination. This spring, the University was named to lead one of first three U.S. Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence and received a three-year, $15 million grant to develop ways to protect the nation’s food supply from deliberate contamination.
The National Center for Food Protection and Defense is led by the University’s Frank Busta, professor emeritus of food science and nutrition, and is a partnership between the government, the private sector, and the academic community.
“The goal,” says Busta, “is to defend the safety of the food system through science and education.” To that end, University faculty and administration will collaborate with experts at a dozen universities, health and agriculture agencies, private companies and consultants, and professional organizations. In addition to research and education, the consortium of more than 90 individuals will address issues relating to public health, technology development, economics, risk communication, detection, and security issues.
While food safety has long been an important issue, there is an important distinction between food safety and food security. “For the most part, with food safety, people mean well but something slips through the cracks,” says Craig Hedberg of the School of Public Health. “With food security, you’ve got someone who’s intentionally trying to bypass prevention measures.” Food safety issues generally involve a relatively small number of people in a limited area; food security issues could be much larger than naturally occurring outbreaks and could be more difficult to identify and prevent.
Scientists are working to address security concerns. One developmental technology is a system that can rapidly detect biological and chemical agents, such as anthrax or ricin. Scientists are particularly interested in developing tests for agents that aren’t typically associated with food-borne illnesses.
Another project models the way food products move through systems of warehouses and stores, which could help researchers determine whether the food was tainted and, if so, where it occurred. It would also help researchers determine how to intervene to minimize the outbreak of disease. “We want to better understand the way foods move to assess vulnerable points in the food industry and make sure those points are being addressed,” says Hedberg.
A Team Effort
Extensive collaboration both within the University and among outside agencies is vital because of the size and scope of the food and agriculture industry. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, who came to the University in July to help launch the center, says the food produced in the United States accounts for about 12 percent of the gross domestic product, and food and agriculture sectors employ 24 million people. In Minnesota, food and agriculture directly and indirectly employ 16.4 percent of the workforce and represent 8 percent of the state’s GDP.
“Partnerships and relationships are indispensable when you’re talking about a sector as vast, diverse, and decentralized as food and agriculture,” she says. “The stakes are high, not only in terms of human health and our agriculture system, but in terms of our economy.”
Because the center will examine all aspects of the food industry, from farm to table, it’s crucial that the work is interdisciplinary in nature. Indeed, says University President Robert Bruininks, one of the primary reasons that the University of Minnesota received the grant was because of the high quality of its programs and researchers in many areas. “We have a critical combination of scholars in our Medical School; School of Public Health; College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences; Institute of Technology; College of Biological Sciences; and College of Veterinary Medicine,” says Bruininks. “The University’s breadth was clearly a strength in approaching this very important work.”
Experts in veterinary medicine, for example, will be able to offer information valuable to understanding human disease—particularly because more than 90 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans are transmitted from animals.
“We’re trying to take a big-picture approach to this issue,” says Hedberg. “We have the resources to connect people together in a way that might not otherwise happen. I can draw on food scientists and engineers to think about the implications of potential contamination, and that allows for a dynamic set of interactions.”
When announcing the grant, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge noted that the best way to defend the nation’s food supply was not to build new research centers but to take advantage of strong academic communities like the University of Minnesota. “Government can’t do it alone,” says Ridge. “Partnerships between the government and our great research universities, businesses, and scientists produce together what would be impossible individually.”
Pieces of the Puzzle
While the most visible and highly promoted aspects of the program have been the technologies to detect and limit food supply contamination, the program’s administrators are quick to point out the multifaceted approach that is required for success.
Educational components will include research opportunities for graduate and postdoctoral students, a nationwide assessment of educational needs and assets, and the integration of university, public, and private sector programs.
Researchers also will study the economic impact of food contamination. If a particular industry suffers from a food contamination incident, experts can share strategies to help minimize economic losses while providing guidance to allow companies to safely resume their work.
When the Brentwood post office in Washington, D.C., was discovered to be contaminated with anthrax, for example, it took months before experts were able to ensure its safety; if something similar were to happen in the food industry, researchers hope the reaction and resumption of business would take far less time.
In addition, experts will examine the best ways to address the public in times of crisis. “Part of our program is to educate people in talking about risk,” says Will Hueston, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine who also teaches in the School of Public Health. When mad cow disease became a public health issue, it wasn’t always clear how small the chances were of actually contracting the disease. Nonetheless, beef sales took a hit because people were worried about their own safety. “It’s a fine line between keeping the public alert and scaring them,” adds Busta. “We need to be able to do a good job communicating with people so that they’ll listen without panicking.”
Implementing a range of different programs and strategies may, by itself, serve as a deterrent to attacks on the food supply, says Hedberg. “I think the center will help send a message to potential perpetrators that an attack will be difficult to achieve and will have limited success,” he says. “If we deny them the opportunity to launch a successful attack, the entire system will be a prevention method.”
Of course, the best possible outcome would be no attacks and no contaminations—for nothing to happen. Officials hope that the new center, which provides public and private support, interdisciplinary collaboration, and education and outreach, will be one way to ensure that. No matter what happens, the program will provide valuable tools to those trying to ensure food safety and security. “We hope to build on the expertise we already have,” says Hedberg. “We’re hopeful that years from now, we’ll be able to talk about this project as being a great success.”
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