BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - The International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI), has partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to train food protection officials to determine the safety and acceptability of seafood from the oil-contaminated Gulf-state area.
The federal program provides hands-on training to develop skills in sensory detection for taint in seafood exposed to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instruction is being provided by a NMFS/FDA Sensory Expert Team that has been collecting base-line samples from the Gulf region for these and future training sessions.
To date, working in partnership with the Association of Food & Drug Officials, and in collaboration with the FDA, IFPTI has trained more than 500 food protection professionals from 37 states. Utilizing a FY2010 federal appropriation, IFPTI expects to train approximately 1,000 state and local food protection professionals in 2010 and the Institute is preparing to train up to 2,000 to 3,000 food safety officials in 2011 utilizing funding allocated for such purposes in the President’s FY2011 Budget.
For more information and dates, visit IFPTI.