Teagasc to Hold Major European Food Safety and Nutrition Conference in Dublin
24 November 2005
The Science of Food - Safety and Nutrition is the subject of a major international conference to be held at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd December, 2005.
Organised by Teagasc's Ashtown Food Research Centre, the conference is the final in a series of six European Union Risk Analysis Information Network (EU-RAIN) conferences held throughout Europe over the last three years.
In industrialised countries, an estimated 10 to 30 per cent of the population suffer food-borne illnesses every year, usually due to contamination of food with pathogenic microorganisms.
Furthermore, the health of millions is at risk due to being overweight or obese. Both chronic and acute illnesses linked to food consumption result in untold human suffering and place a major burden on the health sector.
Such illnesses also result in huge economic costs in terms of lost working days and in terms of product recall costs and loss of business for the food industry in the case of food-borne illness outbreaks.
Encouraging the adoption of better dietary habits and increased physical activity remains a key challenge for health professionals tackling the obesity and overweight issue.
Among the topics to be covered at this conference are agriculture, food and today's lifestyle; diet, sport and obesity - future challenges; functional foods and nutraceutical technology and a range of issues involving food safety from microbiology and microbial techniques, through processing and technology and outbreak investigation and epidemiology.
Targeting food producers, processors, scientists, nutritionists, health professionals, environmental health officers, food safety regulators, epidemiologists, health promotion agencies and consumers, the conference will discuss future research needs and future developments to achieve compliance with legislation.
Speakers include Professor Paul Ross of Teagasc Moorepark Research Centre, Dr Louise Browne of Unilever Corporate Research, Mr John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, Ms Mairead McGuinness, MEP, Professor Jim Sheridan of Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre and Professor Patrick Wall of UCD, a board member of the European Food Safety Authority.
