FDA DFPST
FDA Division of Food Processing Science and Technology (DFPST)
In 1988, the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN) and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) established the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) to serve as a link to the food and food-related industries and to house FDA CFSAN’s Division of Food Processing, Science and Technology (DFPST).
Now part of IIT's Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH), NCFST continues to operate under this unique cooperative agreement as a place where university, government and industry scientists work side-by-side on the development, validation and implementation of food processing and packaging technologies critical for food safety.
This proven collaborative model between FDA CFSAN and NCFST has been expanded to include examination of the role of food technology in the development of foods and food components to improve public health and reduce the health burdens imposed by chronic disease.
One of FDA’s Center of Excellence, IFSH's NCFST is the only center in the nation where FDA scientists are located onsite and are able to work collaboratively on projects with industry and academia. NCFST’s unique partnership with FDA enhances food safety and nutrition for the benefit of the public by:
- Providing cooperative research that provides fundamental food safety information, in the public domain, for use by all segments of the food science community in product and process development
- Serving as a critical resource to FDA to ensure that policy and new regulations for food processing and packaging are based on sound science
- Facilitating the evaluation, validation and commercialization of new technologies that show promise in improving aspects of public health related to food
- Addressing path-to-market issues relating to technology-based innovation that are key to ensuring the safe application of new technology
- Conducting research in food processing and packaging that allows CFSAN to address technical regulatory issues as they arise and to respond rapidly when a new food-related public health or food defense issue arises.