The MSU College of Veterinary Medicine is home to an educational program that connects to everybody, whether they own an animal or not. Veterinarians play critical roles in the food that everyone eats, and the College’s award-winning Online Food Safety Program (OFS) educates the next generation of food safety leaders.

OFS’ cornerstone is its fully online Master’s Degree in Food Safety. In addition to the MS in Food Safety Program, the College’s OFS Program also offers continuing and lifelong education courses, certificates, and executive education programs. It is no wonder that the College’s OFS Program is the leading online food safety educational program in the country. 

During a recent week of food safety education, the College began with “Creating a Food Safety Culture in Michigan,” which brought together representatives from Michigan food industries and regulatory agencies to discuss how they can work together to make food safer in Michigan. This was followed by the OFS Program hosting the Robert Leader Endowed Lecture, which featured Dr. Patricia Griffin, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch. This branch of the CDC investigates foodborne outbreaks across the country, and helps figure out where outbreaks originate and how to fix them.

After the Robert Leader Endowed Lecture, the OFS Program hosted Our Table, an MSU-led community discussion about food. This discussion focused on food safety and featured a panel of experts, including the College’s own, Dr. Julie Funk, associate dean for Academic Programs and Student Success.

The OFS Program also hosted the Executive Education Program, Creating a Food Safety Culture. This program is led by Frank Yiannas, vice president for Global Food Safety at Walmart. The program also featured Bill Marler, an attorney whose entire practice is focused on food safety. More than 40 food safety leaders from around the world attended in order to work toward an increasingly safer food supply.