ICEFRC Expands Global Reach, Welcomes China's Participation

The founding partners of ICEFRC are Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), Health Canada, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Joining them over ICEFRC’s first two years were the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Food Communication Compass Japan, and the newest partner, the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA).

 

“There is a need for strengthening international cooperation and communication in this field,” said CFSAs chief Adviser Junshi Chen. “CFSA and the other International Center member organizations are committed to building and maintaining trust and encouraging informed decisions by stakeholders and consumers, using the very best approaches to food risk communication, working with print and electronic media and more broadly engaging in social media.”

 

Recent issues ICEFRC has addressed, and about which it has made communication resources available on its website, include control of Listeria monocyctogenes, a new Canadian food safety law, the safety of bisphenol A, European assessments of biotechnology maize NK603 (corn), FDA testing for inorganic arsenic in rice, and the European horse meat scandal.