FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, OCT. 23, 2007

NCDA&CS official to speak about food safety
Thursday at conference in Washington, D.C.

RALEIGH – Joseph Reardon, director of the Food and Drug Protection Division at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, has been invited to speak Thursday, Oct. 25, at the 2007 Administrative Law Conference in Washington, D.C.

Reardon will be a panelist for the 9 a.m. session, titled “Terror at the Table? Global Challenges to Food Safety,” at the National Press Club.

Panelists will talk about the regulatory impacts of recent measures taken by federal and state agencies in response to international threats to food safety in the United States.

Reardon will recount North Carolina’s multi-agency effort earlier this year to make sure food retailers and distributors complied with the national recall of chili and other canned meat products. He also will talk about the state’s preparedness for minimizing public health and economic impacts of any attack on the food supply.

Other panelists will include David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food protection with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

-bal-