Behavior Change the Focus at Consumer Food Safety Education Conference

More than 400 public and private sector consumer health professionals will attend the 2017 Consumer Food Safety Education (CFSE) Conference and share strategies for improving food safety practices by affecting behavior change. The conference, hosted by the non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education, is January 25—27, 2017 at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C.

The CFSE Conference will feature leading experts on the topic of behavior change: Frank Yiannas, Vice President of Food Safety for Walmart, author of Food Safety—Behavior and CFSEC co-chair; Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer-Prize winner and New York Times reporter and author of The Power of Habit; and Dr. Lou Atkins, Centre for Behaviour Change, University College, London, co-author of The Behaviour Change Wheel.

“To make dramatic improvements in reducing the burden of foodborne disease we need to get much better at influencing and changing human behavior,” says Yiannas. “At this conference we’ll share new concepts and approaches to help influence human behavior and create a food safety culture worldwide.”

Public health professionals, health and wellness educators, consumer advocates, food industry professionals, and government and military personnel, will have the opportunity to network and engage in collaborative dialog across industries. The two-day conference program will focus on:

Behavior change for improved food safety practices at home and at work;

Strategies to affect the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of millions of consumers;

Collaboration among federal agencies, non-profit organizations, higher education, and the food and beverage industry;

Participants will be equipped with resources to address the biggest food safety challenges of today and tomorrow.

“The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) has participated in the Partnership for Food Safety Education since its start in 1997. They are the credible source for consumer food safety advice that is science-based and consumer-tested, and a natural leader to bring together industry, non-profit and government leaders to craft safe food handling messages and programming for consumers,” says Kathy Means, vice president of Industry Relations for the PMA and a CSFE co-chair.

The conference is supported in part with a grant from the US Food and Drug Administration. Other event sponsors include Ecolab, Food Marketing Institute Foundation, Produce Marketing Association, Sealed Air/Diversey, Walmart, Cargill, the Foundation for Meat & Poultry Research and Education, General Mills, Hershey, NSF International, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, 3M Food Safety, the American Frozen Food Institute, the International Association for Food Protection, and Land O Lakes.

Limited conference and pre-conference workshop registrations are available.