Food Safety: From Farm to Fork

October 27, 2006 - Food safety doesn't begin at the grocery store or in the kitchen. It begins on the farm.

That's why the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is in its third year of a multi-agency U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) effort to routinely track the origins of certain disease-causing bacteria that can occur in meat animal production. The program will also enhance overall understanding of bacteria that pose food safety risks on farms and in processing plants. ARS is the USDA's chief scientific research agency.

In 2003, ARS--along with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Food Safety and Inspection Service--began what's called the Collaboration in Animal Health and Food Safety Epidemiology, or CAHFSE (pronounced "calves"), program. The goal is to find out which pathogens are moving from the farm to the processor and then on to retail outlets, according to Paula Fedorka-Cray. She leads the ARS Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit in Athens, Ga.

To read more about program, go to: www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2006/061023.htm.

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