Food Protection Institute Gets FDA Grant

BATTLE CREEK -- The International Food Protection Training Institute, a non-profit organization delivering career-spanning, standards-based training to food safety officials, announced it had received a multi-year grant of $1.3 million per year from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

The funding will support joint efforts by FDA and IFPTI to implement the national food-training infrastructure mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act.  This competitive grant is year-one of a five-year cooperative agreement.

Each year, foodborne illness strikes approximately 48 million Americans, hospitalizing 100,000 and killing thousands. The IFPTI and FDA are committed to bringing high quality training to food protection professionals to ensure a competent work force at all levels of government. IFPTI is FDA's lead training partner in building the integrated food safety system. IFPTI has trained more than 1,800 food safety inspectors from 49 states.

"The International Food Protection Training Institute has made Battle Creek the national leader in food safety," said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who chairs the senate's Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. "The training being done at IFPTI is preparing thousands of food safety professionals who are on the front lines protecting our food supply and keeping our families safe."

Added Gerald Wojtala, executive director of IFPTI said, "In this era of thrifty budget management, investing the country's limited tax dollars in building the training infrastructure for the integrated food safety system is the most cost-effective way to ensure the nation's food supply is safe."

And Julia Bradsher, president and CEO of the Global Food Protection Institute, said that "Building an integrated system between federal, state and local agencies responsible for the safety of the nation's food supply relies heavily on training, and the International Food Protection Training Institute is meeting that need."

The International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization building and administering the training infrastructure for the nation's integrated food safety system.

Working with federal regulatory and public health officials, IFPTI is establishing and overseeing the implementation of a career-spanning food protection training curriculum that will increase capacity, and assure competency and equivalency throughout all regulatory jurisdictions in meeting established U.S. federal food safety standards.

IFPTI is an initiative of the Global Food Protection Institute. GFPI is driving the adoption of food protection policies and practices for a safer global food supply.

Financial support for IFPTI is provided by a grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and through the generosity of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

IFPTI's training facilities are located in Western Michigan University's Kendall Center in Battle Creek.

For more information, visit www.ifpti.org.