Contributing to the ongoing efforts toward a safer food supply from farm-to-table. The Georgetown Center for Food and Nutrition Policy convened a two-day conference Protecting The Public Against Food-borne Pathogens: E. Coli, in September 1997 in Washington, D.C. The conference was co-sponsored by the: Association of American Veterinary Colleges and brought together nearly 130 professionals from government. academia, industry. and consumer groups.

Catherine E. Woteki, Ph.D., R.D., Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in the keynote address underscored USDA's commitment to the National Food Safely Initiative and its collaboration with other government agencies.

The conference reviewed the dynamics of recent E. coli outbreaks, an examination of the organism and potential explanations for its seemingly "overnight" emergence.

One panel discussed communicating food safety to consumers and promoting food safety education in primary and secondary schools. "In addition to government and industry food safety controls, we must weave food safety education into K-12 curricula," noted David Schmidt, the International Food Information Council's vice president, food safety, and consumer education conference panelist. "Current nutrition resources, like the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, should be used to reach food safety basics as well as good nutrition."

Control methods discussed included sanitation, new technologies for determining E. coli presence as well as food irradiation and its potential for ensuring safe food for consumers. "Food irradiation is tint complementary preventive strategy in the overall HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points) process," noted Joseph Borsa, Ph.D., MDS Nordion, Kanata, Ontario, Canada. "But, food irradiation does not replace safe food processing, handling and preparation measures,"