Ohio State University and a university in Wales have agreed to work together on food safety research.
Ohio State University and Cardiff Metropolitan University recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). It was established by Ellen Evans from ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre at Cardiff Met University and Sanja Ilic from the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State.
The focus is on vulnerable patient groups, part of the work being conducted by both institutions. Data collection is being carried out in the United States to look at the food safety training of dietitians and the collaboration has resulted in two publications and four conference contributions, with more planned.
The first study, published in 2021, covered the attitudes of student dietitians, from three international institutions, toward food safety. The other looked at the role of dietitians in providing food safety information.
Conference output has included the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) European Symposium in Munich in May 2022 and the IAFP virtual annual meeting in October 2020. Two pieces of work were also presented at the Consumer Food Safety Education (CFSE) virtual conference.
Evans is advising a PhD student at Ohio State University, who is using the findings of a research product at ZERO2FIVE as the basis for developing targeted food safety interventions for people receiving cancer treatment.
“With this Memorandum of Understanding in place, we will be able to deliver further important research together that will help to protect the most vulnerable in society from the risk of foodborne illness,” said Evans.
With support from the Welsh Government, ZERO2FIVE works with food and drink companies of all sizes to provide support with factory design, start-up advice, new product development, third party certification and food standards compliance including BRCGS and SALSA, food safety and security, food and labeling legislation, nutrition, market analysis and marketing.
The MoU was signed on behalf of Cardiff Met University by professor Katie Thirlaway, dean of the Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences.
“One of the strategic priorities of Cardiff Met University is building and strengthening our global links by connecting with partner universities around the world to produce research with global relevance and impact,” said Thirlaway.
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