A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 1, 2000
Pa. Food Safety Conference
Lays Groundwork For Alliance
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) With food safety
continuing to be an important
public health issue, a coalition of
food-related organizations is
laying the groundwork for the
Pennsylvania Food Safety and
Quality Alliance, a statewide
council dedicated to promoting
and improving food safety.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Ag
riculture Samuel Hayes joined
about 30 food safety advocates
from agriculture, government,
industry, and education at a
recent conference at Penn State
to assess and prioritize the
state’s food safety issues, and to
form a standing advisory com
mittee to address them.
“The alliance participants re
alize that food safety must be
their top priority,” said Penn
State food safety specialist Dana
McElroy, who coordinated the
two-day event.
Food, Land,
People Training
CHAMBERSBURG (Frank
lin Co.) A Food, Land, and
People Training for primary
educators in Franklin and
Fulton counties will be offered
July 19 here at the Franklin
County extension office.
Certified facilitators
Jennifer Reed, district
manager, Fulton
County Conservation
District, and Donna
Hays, environmental
education coordinator,
Franklin County Con
servation District, will
conduct this workshop
sponsored by the
Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Education.
This training ses
sion will be for pri
mary educators only
(K-4 grades). Other
sessions for middle
and secondary educa
tors will be scheduled
later. This training is
limited for 20 teachers
on a first-come, first
serve basis.
A registration fee of
$25 must be sent to the
Franklin County Con
servatipn District, 218
North Second Street,
Chambersburg, PA
17201, on or before
July 10.
The training session
begins at 8 a.m. with
registration and end
by 5 p.m. Casual dress
is suggested.
The Food, Land,
and People Training
qualifies for the con
tinuing education
credit under Act 48
Relating to Profes
sional Education, Sec
tion 1205.2
Program of Continu
ing Profession Educa
tion. A total of eight
hours will be credited
for successful comple
tion of this daylong
training.
Any questions or a
copy of the registra
tion form should be re
ferred to Donna Hays,
(717) 264-8074, ext. 5
or Jennifer Reed, (717)
485-3547.
I^V
- i'i
“By working cooperatively,
members from all sectors of the
food system including pro
duction, processing, food ser
vice, retail and consumer can
develop more effective and con
sistent food safety programs.”
Candace Jacobs, assistant di
rector of the Washington State
Department of Agriculture, dis
cussed how that state formed its
Food Safety Enhancement Ad
visory Committee, which may
serve as a prototype for the
Pennsylvania initiative.
Linda Frelka, vice president
of quality assurance for Odwalla
Inc., spoke on her company’s ef
forts to implement stringent
food safety and quality pro
grams in the aftermath of deaths
resulting from contaminated
Odwalla apple juice in 1996.
Computer-assisted strategy
sessions helped participants
identify Pennsylvania’s immedi
ate food safety issues and dis
cuss the potential structure and
function of a food safety advi
sory committee to address them.
McElroy said the strategy ses
sions yielded valuable informa
tion that will be distilled into
policies and practices.
“The group identified several
priority areas for improvement,
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including increased education
and training, regulatory unifor
mity, and increased communi
cation and coordination between
sectors,” she said. “By August,
an advisory committee,
comprised of representatives of
government, industry, and aca
deme will be established to
prioritize and implement strate
gies to deal with the identified
issues.”
In support of a team ap
proach to food safety, Hayes
cites the Pennsylvania Egg
Quality Assurance Program
(PEQAP) as an outstanding ex
ample of a cooperative effort
that has resulted in increased
value for producers and proces
sors.
“We’re very pleased that we
have what’s probably the na
tion’s leading egg quality assur
ance program,” Hayes said.
“Now, we want to use a similar
approach with other vulnerable
commodities. For instance,
we’re embarking on a dairy
quality assurance program
where we will apply the PEQAP
principles. We want to continue
supplying the best possible food
for our citizens.”
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Hardwood Forest Facts
• Forests cover nearly 60 percent or 17 million acres of Penn
sylvania as the predominant land cover. Farmland covers about
24 percent with developed land at about 15 percent.
• Nearly 80 percent of the forest in the state is owned by an esti
mated 512,000 private, non-industrial owners, who own an aver
age of 23 acres each or a total of nearly 12 million acres. About 75
percent of the raw materials used in Pennsylvania wood manufac
turing come from these landowners.
• The average American uses enough wood products equal to a
100-foot tree each year.
• About 75 percent of the wood used is softwood, such as pine,
which is used for home construction or furniture.
• Pennsylvania produces nearly $5 billion worth of wood prod
ucts each year.
• Pennsylvania processes enough board feet (one foot by one foot
by one inch) to circle the globe more than seven times.
• There’s trees in your cheese - some parmesan cheese uses cellu
lose, found in trees, to keep it from getting lumpy.
• The state has the largest wood-related work force in the nation -
about 100,000 workers in 700 job categories or about 10 percent of
the state’s manufacturing jobs.
• Pennsylvania ranks first in the nation for hardwood growing
stock and in export grade hardwood. Cherry wood from the
northwest part of the state is world-renowned.
Weaber Mill
(Continued from Pago A 24) to sell for development,” said
regulate so much that they take Tom Buzby.
options away for commercial “ft’s OK to pave it but not to
forestry, so the landowners have thin it out,” noted Robie.
Randall G. Renninger
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Lancaster Farming Staff