Food Safety Matters - Ep. 156. Lise Korsten: Food Safety Considerations, From Post-Harvest Interventions to Future Challenges

Duration: 1h 26m
Broadcast on: 24 Oct 2023
Audio Format: other

Lise Korsten, Ph.D. is the Co-Director of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in the Center of Excellence in Food Security at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She is also responsible for the food safety and regulatory control programs within the DSI-National Research Foundation (NRF) Center of Excellence in Food Security and actively interacts with other researchers in various institutes. She holds the position of Chair in the Global Task Force of Food Security for the International Society for Plant Pathology. Dr. Korsten has also addressed the South African Parliament on Food Safety Control and has developed a national framework for government to develop a Food Control Authority.

Dr. Korsten has been able to attract extensive national and international long-term funding for food safety and water quality research projects and an EU Framework project on climate change and fresh produce. She also developed South Africa's first biocontrol agent for fruit and established a biocontrol research group at the University of Pretoria. Additionally, she has established a fresh produce health group that focuses on food safety of fresh produce and on sanitary and phytosanitary aspects related to international trade. Dr. Korsten's research has focused on the complementary fields of postharvest technology and food safety as related to international trade in fresh produce. As a team, the Plant Health and Safety research group has developed several innovative technologies to reduce disease and prevent product contamination.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Dr. Korsten [30:37] about:

Her work with the DSI-NRF Center of Excellence in Food Security to understand the causes of and solutions to microbial contamination of potable water and irrigation water in Africa
Technologies Dr. Korsten's team has developed that enhance food crop safety and plant health
Dr. Korsten's involvement with GFSI's Science Technology Advisory Group (STAG), which works to leverage available scientific knowledge across a range of topics to advance food safety
Food system transformations and considerations that are required to ensure "safe food for all" in the face of future challenges
Interventions and technologies that could help address some of the most pressing global food safety and security threats, such as the effects of climate change and the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
The global shift away from pesticides that is occurring due to realizations about the human health and environmental harms of the chemicals, and why similar scrutiny should be applied to the downstream impact from excessive use of sanitizers and disinfectants
New technologies that have promise for food safety, such as rapid identification methods, AI, and sensors.

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(upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome to Food Safety Matters, the podcast for Food Safety Professionals. I'm Stacey Acheson, publisher of Food Safety Magazine and I'm joined by my co-hosts Adrienne Bloom, our editorial director and Bob Ferguson, president of strategic consulting. Now, I know that you're gonna be surprised when I tell you that we've got another great episode planned for you today, because we do. We try, we try and keep it going for you, so anyway. So today's guest, Adrienne and I heard today's guest speak at the GFSI Conference in Atlanta and after she was done speaking, we turned to each other and said nodding, podcast. (laughing) So I'll let Adrienne tell you a little bit more about our guest. - Yeah, so our interview guest today is Dr. Elise Corston. She's the co-director of the DSINRF Center of Excellence in Food Security at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. So during the interview today, we're gonna talk about Dr. Corston's extensive research in food safety, water quality, and fresh produce safety and health with emphases on post-harvest intervention strategies, international trade, and plant pathology. We also discuss her work as a member of GFSI's Science Technology Advisory Group and the messages that she shared at the last GFSI meeting in Atlanta about the threats to human health, food safety, and environmental sustainability that we're seeing from climate change. There's a really interesting presentation, and we're gonna talk about that and so much more, so there's a lot to unpack and discuss in this interview, so stay tuned. - Well, thanks Adrienne, and I'm just so glad that Dr. Corston agreed to be a guest on the podcast, and I know our audience is going to get a lot out of your discussion. So in addition to working behind the scenes to playing great podcast episodes, we're also hard at work with the editorial advisory board for the Food Safety Summit to get an excellent lineup of speakers and topics for the 2020 for Food Safety Summit, which is being held May 6th through the 9th in Rosemont, Illinois. So please save the date and, you know, if you're not a commitment of verse, you can go ahead and register for the conference. Registration is open and early bird rates do apply, so.

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