FDA funds to enhance food/feed safety

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WASHINGTON, June 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the awarding of $1 million in grants to be shared by three states to enhance food and feed safety.

The three one-year Food Safety and Security Monitoring grants were awarded to Arkansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin to support creation of a national integrated food safety system.

The three states each received $350,000 to fund Food Emergency Response Network chemistry laboratories. Officials said the money may be used for facility upgrades, training in current food testing methodologies, increased laboratory sample analysis capacity and other activities.

"In the event of a large-scale event affecting food or food products, the grant recipients may be required to perform selected analyses of food samples collected by the FDA or provided by other government agencies through the FDA," officials said in a statement.

Last year the FDA awarded $5.2 million in similar grants to state and local agencies in California, Ohio and Colorado.