The Food Safety Knowledge Network (FSKN) is a unique collaboration between public and private sectors with the goal of increasing the food safety skills of individuals throughout the food value chain in emerging markets. These skills are increasingly needed throughout the food chain as highlighted by recent worldwide food safety events.
The goal of FSKN is to help strengthen the food industry’s response to the complex food safety knowledge and training challenges that affect emerging markets. Michigan State University with generous support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the USAID Partnership for Food Industry Development are setting the stage for harmonized best practices and core training among the many standards, certification and training bodies.
Background
Michigan State University (MSU) is a leader in open educational resource (OER) platforms for agriculture and food safety. In 2009, it launched the award-winning Food Safety Knowledge Network (FSKN). MSU and several public- and private-sector partners including The Coca-Cola Company, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group use and build upon this open platform through international capacity development projects in numerous countries including India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Latin America, Russia, Ukraine, and Egypt.
More recently, MSU has partnered with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN) with funding from the World Bank to develop standardized OER on general food safety management and food safety practices for the aquaculture sector. We anticipate these materials will serve as the basis for a series of capacity development efforts in APEC economies in the coming years. MSU is also providing global platform innovation through Agshare which engages universities to work collaboratively with community stakeholders to solve critical agriculture and veterinary problems. This innovation provides a unique way to engage research, active learning and solve critical Feed the Future problems.
Learn more about the Food Safety Knowledge Network Platform and Approach.
