MSU Researcher studying Global Food Safety

EAST LANSING, MICH - Many of us often wonder how safe is the food that we eat.

A professor from Michigan State University is taking the concern a step further.

Veteran researcher of global food safety, Kevin Walker, is traveling with 24 government officials who hope to strengthen global food safety.

Walker is heading a 3 week program that will go to Paris, Geneva, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, and back to East Lansing before concluding their study.

The team will discuss issues with federal and state officials as well as businesses, researchers, and educators in hopes of gaining more collaboration among them. It will try to see how to apply these ideas in China.

The safety of our food involves more than any one country and according to Professor Walker, "It ultimately requires the private and public sectors to combine efforts, resources and knowledge toward a shared vision of food safety with more unified actions. The experiential learning approach taken by this initiative is designed to enable our Chinese participants to understand how others around the world achieve collective outcomes from shared values.”

The central point of this program is to protect public health in a better integrated approach to food safety. It's being backed by nonprofit groups and organizations and some private companies that are offering expertise as well, such as General Mills, and Cargill, Pfizer Animal Health and Donone to name a few.

Professor Walker sums up this effort: “Food safety in a global world requires all of us - consumers, industry and governments - to continually work together in shared space that improves public health.”