The Meat Institute has joined the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, a partnership through which the Meat Institute will promote food safety best practices and engage in other efforts to prevent foodborne illness on behalf of meat and poultry companies.

The Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness is a nonprofit program of Stop Foodborne Illness. It brings together consumer advocates, industry, and stakeholder organizations committed to the goal of preventing foodborne disease. The Alliance comprises more than 20 global members organizations working together to share best practices and advance food safety culture.

At the Meat Institute’s recent Food Safety Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, its members heard from Christopher George, a Stop Foodborne Illness constituent. “His personal testimony about his son nearly dying from contracting Escherichia coli O157:H7 was a powerful reminder of the life-or-death consequences of all we do to protect against foodborne illness,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts.

Stop Foodborne Illness amplifies stories like George’s to communicate the impact of foodborne illness and motivate stakeholders at all levels to ensure food safety.

The Meat Institute’s membership in the Alliance will help the Meat Institute collaborate and share best practices, which then helps Meat Institute members with continuous improvement and to further establish a culture of food safety at their companies. An example of the Alliance’s impact is represented in its Food Safety Culture Toolkit, a free resource library of video testimonials, interactive modules, and customizable communication and assessment tools.

In addition to joining the Alliance, the Meat Institute recently created a task force to build a set of tools and templates to help industry executives promote food safety culture within their organizations. Programming and training on these tools will be offered at the Meat Institute’s Protein PACT Solutions Summit, taking place October 8–10 at the Intercontinental Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California.

The Meat Institute is also working on new industry guidance on Listeria monocytogenes control, titled, the “Foundations of Listeria Control,” which will be published in late September. The Meat Institute holds the “Advanced Listeria monocytogenes Intervention and Control Workshop” bi-annually, the next of which is occurring October 22–23, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Finally, continuing the conversation from the recent Food Safety Conference, the Meat Institute is offering a free Food Safety Exchange webinar series designed to provide ongoing education and insight on the critical issues shaping food safety.