USDA’s “Farm to Fork” is a forum for agricultural industries to communicate with state and federal agencies about food safety concerns and help shape policies considered by various agencies.
Ashley Johnson, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) director of food policy, played a pivotal role at this forum that brought together representatives from the cattle, poultry and swine industries, as well as state and federal government agencies, to discuss topics vital to agriculture and public health. Why is this so important to engage in?
“NPPC’s proactive involvement underscores its commitment to influencing food safety policies through science-based practices. Without NPPC’s seat at the table, there is potential for policy to be implemented that could drastically change producers’ freedom to operate,” the organization said in Capital Update.
Johnson served on the steering committee for the meeting, which was presented as part of USDA’s One Health initiative, a collaborative effort of health science professionals — ecologists, epidemiologists, physicians, public health officials, toxicologists, and veterinarians — and institutions working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants, and the environment.
“The One Health approach to addressing diseases embraces the idea that a disease problem affecting the health of humans, animals and the environment can be solved only through improved communication, cooperation, and collaboration across disciplines and institutions,” NPPC wrote.
Johnson represented pork industry priorities in various roundtable discussions and panel presentations. Among the topics discussed include:
• Preharvest food safety trends, concerns, and successes across industry, local, state, and federal partners.
• Reducing pathogens in the broader agricultural environment.
• Recurrent, emerging, and persistent enteric bacterial strains of public health concern.
• Integrating a One Health perspective to support coordination, transparency, communication and collaboration among agencies and stakeholders.
