Virginia prepares for Food Security Summit

Virginia is for lovers, and also for food safety experts. (The two are not neccesarily mutually exclusive categories.) Those in the latter category can get their fill next week at the Virginia Food Security Summit hosted by the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, an event intended to examine relationships between consumers and producers — in particular reducing the mileage that food travels from the farm to the dinner table. “It’s really about understanding the food supply and understanding how it affects food and health,” said Virginia Tech’s Susan Sumner. Speakers will include experts on sustainability, food-borne microbes, food distribution, hunger policy, and government regulations. (As the reader can imagine, this is not a conference for those put off by heavy doses of patchouli oil.) Among the speakers relevant for the security-minded is Professor Renee Boyer of Virginia Tech, who will discuss research the school is conducting on ways to protect consumers from pathogens in produce.