About Us > Membership
Benefits
The National Center is a pioneer consortium where industry, academia
and government collaborate on food safety research. Each of the partners
has a unique responsibility and brings distinctive perspectives and expertise
to food safety issues and new technologies.
An example of this partnering was the Workshop on the
Aseptic Processing of Multi-phase Foods which culminated
in a successful low-acid canned foods filing of a commercial product.
Industry had unsuccessfully
attempted to get a process accepted over a 10 year
period and had written off in excess of $50 MM. The NCFST conducted a
series of workshops which
brought together all the experts in the field to discuss
the scientific issues and establish criteria leading to a successful
filing. The commercialization of the process was accomplished in
less than 12 months. The success of this project reflects
the unique ability of the NCFST to bring together the expertise required
to solve
seemingly insurmountable problems.
The synergistic interaction of NCFST members from Academia,
Government and Private Industry generate a variety of benefits for members
in the National Center.
Membership Benefits
- Opportunity for partnership and interaction with FDA
and academia
- Collaborative and proprietary research
- Leveraged research
funding
- Collaboration and input on emerging food
safety issues
- Access to international food safety
policy experts and makers
- Participation in projects
at grass roots level
- Access to the Center's knowledge,
expertise and resources
Industry Specific
- Participate in the identification of information necessary
for petitioning and obtaining FDA approvals,
e.g. irradiation
- Access to NCFST/IIT staff for proprietary research
activities
- Receive on-site consulting to tailor
problem solving to specific needs
University Specific
- Faculty and students learn first-hand of the complex,
practical issues facing the food industry and
regulators.
FDA Specific
- receive better organized and more universally applicable
data in the petition process
- participate in
identifying and researching safety aspects of new food processing
methods and technologies
- increase the agency's capability to address
on-going public health issues
- access to NCFST organized task forces
to address rapidly emerging public health concerns related to
food safety
- receive early warnings of emerging problems and
- provide critical
support during periodic emergencies
- learn how state-of-the-art
procedures compare to earlier approaches through hands-on participation
in new food processing methods and technologies developed by industry.
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