Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force Summary The Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force formed to foster partnerships among industry, academia, and governmental agencies. There are The task force consists of 112 members from State/local government, industry, and academia and 14 Federal participants (non-members). These relationships are further developed and strengthened through the bi-annual Task Force meetings. The meetings feature numerous speakers from industry and government discussing various food safety and defense topics. The meetings are very successful and demonstrate that industry is responding to food safety and defense threats and partnering with government to keep the food supply safe and secure. The Task Force received grant funding from FDA that allows the membership to hold two training meetings per year for information sharing, training, and discussing current issues and concerns. Over the past few months the Task Force has been leveraging new technology and has established the Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force Workgroup on FoodSHIELD to share information among the various members and participants. The membership received training on the FoodSHIELD system at the last meeting on March 17, 2010, and has already started sharing documents and discussing issues in the secure workspace on the system.
Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force- Project Narrative The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) provides the staff support for the Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force. Grant funds have allowed the Task Force to expand the scope of work to focus on food safety and food defense issues to further protect Indiana's vital food and agriculture infrastructure. The task force consists of 112 members from State/local government, industry, and academia and 14 Federal participants (non- members). The Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force is currently structured to meet two times per year. Regular meetings are held during March and November of each year. Task Force meetings are structured to begin at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. Each meeting is set up with approximately six speakers to provide relevant food safety and defense information. Time is also provided for roundtable discussions between government, industry, and academia on current issues and concerns.
