Sophie Huang, graduate student, in the Food Sciences program.

MU Food Science graduate student, Sophie Huang, has been chosen by the non-profit, Partnership for Food Safety Education, as recipient of a scholarship to attend the Consumer Food Safety Education Conference 2014. The conference was held Dec. 4-5 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA.

Huang is from Hebei Province, China, and is a Research Assistant in the Food Science program at MU. Scholarship winners were chosen through a competitive essay contest which was judged by individuals from leading food safety and food information organizations in the United States.

Through the conference, the non-profit Partnership brought public and private sector leaders together to discuss collaborative approaches for promoting food safety at home as fundamental to illness prevention in the United States. The program for Together:  A Food Safe America focuses on the latest research on consumer safe food handling behaviors and on motivating change in consumer behavior for improved health outcomes.

Consumer food safety education has traditionally been an area of strong collaboration between government, industry and commodity organizations, consumer groups, and science and technical professional organizations. The first national campaign for consumer food safety education, Fight BAC!®, and its four core messages of clean, separate, cook and chill, remain the cornerstone of consumer education efforts today.

The Consumer Food Safety Education Conference 2014 was made possible with the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service. Private sponsors also support the conference.

For more information on the Consumer Food Safety Education Conference 2014 visit http://www.teamfoodsafety.org/2014