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The National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD) is a research and education center at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and is focused on defending the safety of the food system through research and education.

History
The National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD) was officially launched as a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate Center of Excellence in July 2004. Developed as a multidisciplinary and action-oriented research consortium, NCFPD addresses the vulnerability of the nation's food system to attack through intentional contamination and catastrophic events. NCFPD takes a comprehensive, farm-to-table view of the food system, encompassing all aspects from primary production through transportation and food processing to retail and food service.

NCFPD's research and education program is aimed at reducing the potential for contamination at any point along the global food supply chain and mitigating potentially catastrophic public health and economic effects of such attacks. The program incorporates cutting-edge research across a wide range of disciplines, including supply chain management, logistics, epidemiology, risk assessment, economics, molecular biology, food microbiology, biomedical engineering, toxicology, and risk communication.

Over 150 experts from academia, private sector research organizations, professional organizations, state and federal government agencies, and the food industry are currently involved in NCFPD's research and education program. Academic collaborators include the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, North Dakota State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and investigators from over 30 other universities. Nearly all NCFPD research and education projects involve students and research trainees.

Research
NCFPD's research teams are organized thematically. Twenty-eight research and education projects, based on collaborative efforts across multiple teams and organizations, are currently underway in these areas :


 * Agent Behavior - developing innovative detection, decontamination and inactivation technologies using research on the fundamental behaviors of select chemical or biological agents in food.


 * Event Modeling - developing dynamic, real-world models of both food contamination events and public health responses. These models rapidly identify sources of contamination, food distribution points, and possible outbreak locations, and can also demonstrate interventions and responses using novel communication systems and actual data from food distribution; food consumption, and epidemiologic studies.


 * Systems Strategies - establishing innovative prevention, response, and recovery strategies to minimize both the probability of a terrorist attack on the food system, and the resulting health and economic consequences. Systems Strategies continues to develop approaches to prioritize interventions and countermeasures based on their economic utility, including complementary benefits beyond food defense.


 * Information Sharing - this research priority is aimed at improving information sharing among the individuals, agencies, and companies involved in protecting the global population from food contamination. It is an absolute requirement for identification of events and rapid response, which is often challenged by cultural, technological, and legal barriers.


 * Risk Analysis - establishes innovative strategies to assess, manage, and mitigate risk in the food supply. As defined by the World Health Organization, risk analysis is made up of the three components to accomplish the risk-based management of hazards in food: 1) Risk assessment is the scientific evaluation of known or potential adverse health effects resulting from human exposure to foodborne hazards;  2) Risk management is the process of weighing policy alternatives to accept, minimize, or reduce assessed risks and to select and implement appropriate options; and 3) Risk communication is an interactive process of exchange of information and opinion on risk among risk assessors, risk managers, and other interested parties.


 * Supply Chain Security - targeted to strengthening supply chains by understanding system vulnerabilities, rapidly identifying disruptions, assessing risks, prioritizing protection efforts, and analyzing supply chain interdependencies. The ultimate objective is to develop tools to improve how stakeholders and policy makers understand the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses of the local-to-global interconnected systems that enable the food supply chain.

Education
NCFPD’s educational program is thematically overarching, focusing on enhancing expertise in food defense through the development and expansion of specific programs of study for graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral students, and mid-career professionals in the public and private sector. The program is aimed at educating current and future leaders and developing critical expertise in food defense through various programs of study.

The NCFPD offers comprehensive food defense Curriculum Initiatives and Workforce Training Programs that realize a farm-to-table view of the food system that encompass all aspects from plant construction to primary production through transportation and food processing to retail and food service.