About Us

The Retail-Foodservice Food Safety Consortium (RFSC) was founded in 2004-2005 with the collaboration of five land grant universities and three science associations. The first roundtable was held in Las Vegas in November 2006. In September 2007, the Consortium received a grant from the USDA CSREES to enhance and expand its activities.

The U.S. retail food industry includes over 1,000,000 establishments. Shrinking budgets, international trade, new technologies, emerging pathogens, and changing consumer demands place unprecedented demands on retail food safety professionals. The Retail Food Safety Consortium, through networking, information sharing, and strategic planning of activities, has great potential to enhance the ability of food safety professionals to work more effectively with the retail food industry.

Objectives

  1. Enhance Collaborations between retail food safety professionals
  2. Identify & scientifically validate retail food safety practices
  3. Collect, develop, review, & disseminate retail food safety resources
  4. Identify & prioritize retail food safety research needs

Members

  • Association of Food Drug Officials
  • Clemson University
  • International Association Food Protection
  • National Environment Health Association
  • Purdue University
  • Rutgers University
  • The Ohio State University
  • University of Arkansas
  • Utah State University