BATTLE CREEK -- Given that Battle Creek is famous for being home to the company that produces breakfast food for billions, it really is only natural that the city would build on Kellogg's success and focus on food as a way to drive progress for the city.
It was with that thinking that the International Food Protection Training Institute opened as a nonprofit in July with $2 million in seed money from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
"Food technology and food science are part of the overall economic development strategy for downtown Battle Creek," says Joan Bowman, spokesperson for
IFPTI. Bowman was the institute's first employee and is among six staffers. Within two to three years, she says, the institute will grow to 20 to 25 employees.
Already, economic benefits are materializing each time trainees from around the country come train at the institute. They stay at local hotels, eat at local restaurants and patronize other local businesses. More than 400 people have received training at the institute since it opened.
"There definitely has been that effect and we expect to see more," Bowman says.
The institute represents the first of a three-part plan to build the National Center for Food Protection in the city. The center also will include a Food Testing Center of Excellence and an Emerging Technology Accelerator.
The institute is poised to train 1,000 this year thanks to $1 million in federal funding.
Although economic development was a driver behind the institute's formation, its reason for being is to make the nation's food supply safe.
Safe food has become a more pressing public issue as tainted food scares make news.
In response, President Barack Obama amended his 2011 fiscal budget to include an additional $8 million for the institute.
"With this additional funding we should be able to train 2,000 to 3,000 more in 2011," Bowman says.
What many people don't know is that the folks who inspect the food you consume don't have a uniform set of standards. The institute teaches food inspectors and regulators how to precisely follow Food and Drug Administration laws.
"Our focus is on our government regulators," says Stephen Benoit, chief operating officer of IFPTI. "There's no mandatory training for state and government regulators and the training varies by the state they're in."
They learn safe food temperatures, proper food storage and transfer, accurate food sample-taking and other food-handling matters.
They learn in labs and classrooms at the institute, located in the Kendall Center at Western Michigan University's Battle Creek campus, 49 West Michigan Ave.
A course taught last week, titled Agriculture and Food Vulnerability Assessment, drew 35 inspectors. Seated around conference tables they studied photos of questionable food products as they appeared on a screen in front of them, showing what's OK and what's not when it comes to letting food be sold to consumers.
A major focus is identifying and controlling food-borne pathogens, Benoit says.
The ability to do so, Benoit adds, is much greater than in the past.
"We hear more about it because there's an increased awareness," he says.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths occur annually in the U.S. due to food pathogens; and about one of every four Americans will develop a food-borne illness each year.
While face-to-face trainings ideally better prepare trainees, more inspectors and regulators could be reached through online training, regional training and webinars in the future, says Craig Kaml, the institute's director of curriculum delivery.
The idea is to identify the best ways to deliver information and figure out "how do we make the biggest impact," Kaml says.
No matter how trainees receive the information, the institute must make sure it is the best information, Kaml says.
Institute instructors are typically experts in the field, many coming from the FDA.
"We put them through instructor development workshops," Kaml says. "These are people who have been in the field for 35 years. Typically they come from the regulation side, although some will be inspectors."
Earlier this year, Congressman Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) introduced a bill with Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) to establish long-term federal support for the institute.
Schauer's bill calls for 1,000 state and local inspectors to be trained in the first year of operation. Funding from the bill would increase the number of trainees to 3,000 annually by 2013. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) has sponsored similar legislation in the U.S. Senate.
"This funding will help train state and local food safety professionals at the institute, who are on the front lines keeping our families safe," Stabenow says in a press release. "This project further solidifies Battle Creek as a national leader in food safety."
It all furthers plans to establish Battle Creek as a national leader in food and food safety.
Battle Creek was the obvious choice for the institute because of its long history with food production and the science that goes into food production, Benoit says.
The
W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which is headquartered in downtown Battle Creek and is the world's third-largest foundation, has the money and global reach to help make it happen.
"When you talk about why are we doing this, first of all, on the national level, food protection's become a very important issue for our country and our population," noted Karl Dehn, president of
Battle Creek Unlimited, in recent media reports.
BCU was instrumental in the effort to land the food protection institute headquarters in Battle Creek.
Michigan is the ideal location, he says, because it has "a lot of expertise and a lot of assets that allow us to contribute to improving the food system."
Jane C. Parikh is a freelance writer living and working in Battle Creek, and owns the business In So Many Words.Photos by Erik Holladay
www.eholladay.comCEO of International Food Protection Training Institute Steve Benoit hopes to train food inspectors how to precisely follow Food and Drug Administration laws. The labs will take place at Western Michigan University's Kendall Center in Downtown Battle Creek.
Classes for the International Food Protection Training Institute will take place at the Kendall Center at Western Michigan University's Battle Creek campus, 49 West Michigan Ave.
Brittany Schmall works as the Communications Assistant at the International Food Protection Training Institute.
The International Food Protection Training Institute is poised to train 1,000 inspectors and regulators this year.
Lanyards promoting the International Food Protection Training Institute
Steve Benoit, CEO of the International Food Protection Training Institute, started in July with the nonprofit organization.
Classes for the International Food Protection Training Institute will be held at the Kendall Center at Western Michigan University's Battle Creek campus, 49 West Michigan Ave.
The IFPTI hopes to train 2,000 to 3,000 people in 2011 with the additional $8 milion in funding it will receive.
Classes for the International Food Protection Training Institute will be held at the Kendall Center at Western Michigan University's Battle Creek campus, 49 West Michigan Ave.
CEO of the International Food Protection Training Institute stands outside Western Michigan University's Battle Creek Campus where its labs and classes will be held.