Cooperative Agreement to Support the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN)

Project Summary/Abstract The Joint Institute for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) at the University of Maryland, College Park was established by the University and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996 to advance sound strategies that improve public health, food safety, and applied nutrition using risk analysis principles through cooperative research, education and outreach programs. JIFSAN programs support the Food Safety Modernization Act that emphasizes the concept of preventing food safety-related problems before they occur and enhance FDA's efforts to partner with other nations to improve U.S. and worldwide health. JIFSAN's vision is to be an internationally recognized source of scientific information and trainings on food safety, applied nutrition and animal health. This renewal is to obtain funding for an additional five years (26-30) of the FDA Cooperative Agreement. This proposal includes administrative, research and programmatic support to 1) establish multi-institutional, multidisciplinary applied research projects to address complex food/feed safety and public health issues associated with products that FDA regulates; 2) continue the development of mechanisms for the exchange of technical information and scientific concepts between FDA and other sectors of the international and domestic community; 3) continue the development and refinement of programs based on the application of the principles of risk analysis to address food/feed defense and safety issues; and 4) continue developing innovative education and outreach programs that will provide opportunities to leverage resources among various sectors of stakeholders to address complex safety issues associated with an increasingly diverse global food/feed supply.