Champions for Food Safety

By: Hilary Thesmar, PhD, RD, FMI Vice President, Food Safety Programs, Food Marketing Institute 

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the National Consumer Food Safety Education Conference where several hundred food safety educators, researchers and public health leaders gathered to discuss the newest concepts and tactics to promote consumer food safety behaviors.  FMI was invited to present our views as a “Champion for Consumer Food Safety” as a part of a plenary session.  The remarks presented are as follows: 

“Consumers are everywhere, but reaching the consumer can be the most challenging audience to reach and the most challenging audience to craft messages for.

Companies who make and sell food care deeply about food safety and put forth significant effort to  sell safe and wholesome products to their customers, friends, neighbors and families. 

It is the food industry’s job to prevent contamination from occurring.  It is also our responsibility to make sure we provide science based information to consumers to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. 

To accomplish this goal, the Partnership for Food Safety Education is the perfect organization to work with since it is a partnership of industry, government and scientific and consumer organizations working to develop the best consumer friendly food safety messages based on microbiological science and behavioral science.”