Food Research Institute to receive food safety award

The Food Research Institute at UW–Madison will receive the first Food Safety Award from the National Food Processors Association, the group announced May 27.

“The Food Research Institute’s contribution to food safety research and training has been enormous,” said Rhona Applebaum, NFPA’s executive vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs. “This award is recognition by FRI’s peers of its important contributions to our nation’s food safety.

“We are pleased to have the FRI as the first recipient of NFPA’s Food Safety Award,” said Applebaum, who received her doctorate in food science from the UW–Madison. “The Institute was selected from an outstanding field of candidates by a panel of independent experts in the field of food safety.”

The Food Research Institute has been involved in food safety research for more than 50 years, first at the University of Chicago and since 1966 in UW–Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The institute is recognized internationally for its work on a range of microbes that can contaminate food and water, and its work on food allergens and anti-carcinogens.

The Food Research Institute will receive the award on August 19, in Nashville at the annual meeting of the International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians, the professional organization whose mission is to advance food protection worldwide.

The National Food Processors Association is the voice of the $430 billion food processing industry on scientific and public policy issues involving food safety, nutrition, technical and regulatory matters, and consumer affairs. The association will present the award each year to honor an individual, group or organization for preeminence in, and outstanding contributions to, the field of food safety.