Newark, Del.—Produce Marketing Association (PMA) members contributed $372,000 in 2009 to support the association’s food safety initiatives including produce-specific research at the new Center for Produce Safety.
As of Dec. 15, 372 PMA member companies had each donated $1,000 to the “Gold Circle: Campaign for Food Safety” program. Donations to the program support PMA’s global food safety initiatives in four primary areas: research; consumer education; industry outreach and training; and communications, and help finance a range of PMA food safety activities, including PMA’s support of produce-specific food safety research at the new Center for Produce Safety (CPS) at the University of California, Davis.
CPS was created in 2007 by founding contributions from PMA and Gold Circle contributor Taylor Farms. CPS began sponsoring produce-specific food safety research in 2008, and as of July 2009 has issued $1.1 million in research grants to fund 11 produce-specific projects. The center will host an international symposium in June 2010 to report findings to date and help translate that science into real-world solutions.
The Gold Circle program also supports the work of PMA’s first-ever Chief Science Officer and food safety expert, Dr. Robert Whitaker and helps to fund the Partnership for Food Safety Education’s “Be Food Safe” consumer education program.
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