By By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC -- Michigan State University hosted a two-hour town hall meeting Tuesday night attended by 18 people at Southwestern Michigan College's Mathews Conference Center to discuss food safety issues and consumer food safety tools.
The first-of-its-kind open forum was sponsored by Michigan State University Extension in Cass County, along with the Extension Food Safety Area of Expertise Team.
The free public meeting featured consumer tips and information from food safety and toxicology experts at the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center (NFSTC) at MSU and the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
Co-organizer Toby Ten Eyck, a sociology professor with the NFSTC, was one of seven experts who participated.
Ten Eyck said recent media coverage of topics such as bovine tuberculosis, chronic wasting disease, mad cow disease, pesticides, biotechnology and other issues highlights the need for such a forum.
The NFSTC (www.foodsafe.msu.edu) is committed to reducing food-related disease on a global level through research, education and service. For more information, contact Kirsten Khire, communications director, at 517/432-3100, ext. 111, or, e-mail khirek@cvm.msu.edu.