
WEBINAR
Only
FREE
for Members
COVID-19: Keeping our Food Safe During the Pandemic
Monday, May 18, 2020, 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM EDT
WEBINAR
Presented By
The New York Academy of Sciences
The Academy relies on individual and organizational partners to support us in the fight against COVID-19. You can help us in these efforts by clicking here to make a gift today.
Ensuring food safety is a major concern during times of crisis. This 75-minute webinar will explore the food safety considerations and implications of a prolonged and global COVID-19 pandemic from both the standpoint of consumer concerns and food production.
In This Webinar, You'll Learn:
- Changes to food production (including preparation, handling, and oversight) that have occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
- How the food sector is responding to protect consumers from exposure to COVID-19
- How can the health of workers throughout the food supply chain be protected during the current pandemic

Karin Hoelzer, DVM, PhD
Pew Charitable Trusts
Karin Hoelzer, a veterinarian and microbiologist, leads The Pew Charitable Trusts’ work on antibiotic use in animal agriculture and focuses on policies to mitigate health risks related to the food supply. Before joining Pew, Hoelzer developed and led risk assessments for the U.S. FDA, and before that was a research associate at Cornell University, tracing the transmission of pathogens between livestock and humans. She holds doctorates in veterinary medicine from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, Germany, and in comparative biomedical sciences from Cornell University, where she examined the emergence of viruses and their spread from one species to another. Hoelzer serves as the current Executive Director of the District of Columbia Veterinary Medical Association, and scientific editor for the Elsevier journal Research in Veterinary Science.

Lee-Ann Jaykus, PhD
North Carolina State University
Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus is a William Neal Reynolds Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. Her formal training is in Food Safety/Food Microbiology (Purdue University) and Environmental Sciences/Public Health (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Dr. Jaykus is probably best known for her efforts in food virology, having served as the scientific director of the USDA-NIFA Food Virology Collaborative (NoroCORE project) for over 7 years. She has 30 years of experience training undergraduate and graduate students in food microbiology; leading food safety research projects; and working with external stakeholders in the food and beverage industry, sanitation and hygiene sector, and with cruise lines. Her professional activities have included membership on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF); participation in several National Academies consensus studies and as a member of the Food and Nutrition Board; and as a member of the executive board of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), for which she served as president in 2010-2011.
Access to Webinar Materials
A link to the eBriefing (video recording) of this Webinar will be available to all registrants within 30 days of the event date. The eBriefing will be available to all registrants for 60 days following publication, after which it will revert to Member-only access. Not a Member? Join today.
Interested in more content related to food and the pandemic? Tune into another afternoon webinar titled, COVID-19: Food Security in the Pandemic. For more information on this afternoon lecture, please visit: www.nyas.org/COVIDFoodSecurity.
Registration
Monday
May 18, 2020
Introduction
Speaker
COVID-19: Risks to and Responses by the Food Industry During the Pandemic
Speaker
The recent emergence of human Coronavirus-2 (CoV-2) has raised havoc in many areas of our world, and the food industry is no exception. The purpose of this presentation is to provide up-to-date background information on CoV-2 and its associated disease, COVID-19. Information specific to how the many sectors of the food supply chain are addressing the pandemic, with a focus on sanitation and hygiene, and protecting the workforce, will then be discussed. The participant should come away with a better understanding of how this virus has and can disrupt the food supply and how such disruptions are being proactively addressed.
How is the novel Coronavirus affecting Food Safety Oversight and Foodborne Illness Surveillance in the US?
Speaker
As the novel coronavirus continues to spread and governments at all levels encourage—or require—people to stay home to limit infections, Americans are stocking up on food to tide themselves over. What is being done to ensure the food Americans eat remains safe during the pandemic? This presentation will explore how the pandemic is affecting the nation’s food safety oversight system and the ability to detect and resolve foodborne illness outbreaks.