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Foodborne illness, a preventable and underreported disease, is a public
health and economic challenge in the United States. While it regularly
strikes people in the general population, some—including pregnant
women, young children, older adults, and those with weakened immune
systems—are at even greater risk. Sharing food safety information
with all populations and encouraging positive behavior modification
during food preparation and consumption is necessary to reduce exposure
to pathogens known to cause foodborne illness. The reduction of foodborne
illness requires accurate diagnosis and timely reporting. It also
requires public health intervention along the entire farm-to-table
continuum. Food safety education and behavioral modification is the
critical intervention at the table-end of this continuum.
Public health professionals and health care providers who develop
health policy and who educate and medically treat general and at-risk
populations are essential to recognizing, treating, and reducing foodborne
illness. Food safety educators who develop and conduct food safety
risk communication and outreach programs fill critical roles in communicating
science-based food safety principles and practices that encourage
positive behavior change among general and at-risk populations. Food
industry professionals who write policy, provide food products, and
create and distribute food safety information provide necessary safeguards
in protecting both general and at-risk populations from foodborne
illness. And scientific writers and journalists, along with other
media, trade and health associations, and consumer groups provide
a strong link in the food safety chain by sharing information with
all populations. It is only through the efforts of all of these groups
that we can create positive behavior modification during food preparation
and consumption, which is so necessary to reduce exposure to pathogens
known to cause foodborne illness.
This conference will address these issues.
Goals
- To share current surveillance and epidemiological data on foodborne
illness
- To present strategies leading to enhanced food safety knowledge,
skills, and abilities and in attitudinal and behavioral modification
in general and at-risk populations
- To communicate the latest science-based safe food handling principles
and practices
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Last Modified:
August 21, 2006 |
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