The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) provides the staff support for the Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force Meetings. This Task Force was formerly known as the Indiana Food Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Task Force and has been meeting since 2003. Food Safety and Defense Task Forces are a critical and effective tool to promote and protect the public health; they create an effective state-wide infrastructure for outreach, response, and information sharing. Stakeholders include members from government, industry, academia, law enforcement and consumer groups. Meetings aim to foster communication, cooperation and collaboration within Indiana and agendas center on food safety and defense topics. Improvements are underway to implement panel discussions, exercises, and functional projects during Task Force Meetings. Members are being encouraged to utilize FoodSHIELD to build working group sharing capabilities; by providing food safety and defense related experiences, links, and videos. Additionally, actions have been taken to record meetings and upload onto FoodSHIELD to make meetings available to all members especially those unable to attend the meeting. Ongoing communication will be conducted to request feedback and suggestions for future topics, projects, training, or exercises. The Task Force meetings promote the integration of an efficient statewide food safety and defense system that maximizes the protection of public health through the prevention, early detection and containment of food-borne illness. It also provides a forum for open dialogue between the industry, regulators, academia and other stakeholders who have an interest in food safety and defense and brings key individuals together.
Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force ? Narrative The Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force Meetings are an integral piece of the ISDH's work to protect public health by assuring food safety. These meetings provide a unique opportunity for regulatory agencies, industry, academia and other partners to have a forum of education, discussion and planning in food safety and defense matters. This communication and collaboration is the foundation for an effective and efficient integrated food safety/defense system.
