D.C. The center also operates research facilities in Laurel, Md., and a fisheries research center in Dauphin Island, Ala., and helps staff the National Center for Food Safety and Technology in the Chicago area. Next summer, according to Arnold Borsetti, Ph.D., director of the center's executive operations staff, the center plans to move its molecular biology and seafood safety research laboratories from Davisville, R. I., to Baltimore, Md., where it will share space with the Maryland Center for Marine Biotechnology. Much of the information evaluated by center personnel is gathered by FDA employees across the country. For example, FDA field investigators inspect food and cosmetic companies, examine food shipments from abroad, and collect samples. Laboratory scientists and technicians analyze samples.
Compliance officers recommend legal action and follow through on enforcement issues.
Center personnel also work with other government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, to resolve food safety concerns and economic fraud cases, for example. But that's changing as a result of recent international treaties. Now, more and more food is traveling in international circles. That trend will likely continue, he said, consuming much of the center's future focus. The first of these on the market, the Flavr Savr tomato, can be shipped vine-ripened, thus improving texture and flavor.