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About the Speaker

Conrad Choiniere, PhD
Director
Office of Analytics and Outreach(OAO)
Center for Food Safety and Nutrition (CFSAN)

Conrad Choiniere, PhD, is the Director of the Office of Analytics and Outreach at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). Dr. Choiniere provides executive leadership for a broad portfolio of scientific and regulatory functions including risk and decision analysis, social and behavioral sciences, epidemiology, biostatistics and informatics, education and outreach, and food defense. Dr. Choiniere currently co-leads a core element of FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety focused on fostering and supporting Food Safety Culture across the food system. He also chairs the FDA’s Toxic Elements Working Group which prioritizes the agency’s efforts to reduce exposures to lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals from foods to the greatest extent feasible. Dr. Choiniere has a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

About the Presentation

The FDA’s Closer to Zero initiative is the agency’s action plan for reducing exposure to toxic elements, including lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, in foods for babies and young children. Closer to Zero utilizes a multi-phase, science-based, iterative approach for achieving continual improvements over time, laying out plans to further reduce the levels of toxic elements in foods. The plan includes advancing research, the evaluation of changes in dietary exposures to toxic elements, setting action levels, encouraging adoption of best practices by industry, increasing targeted compliance and enforcement activities, and monitoring progress of levels over time.

Learning Objectives

After completion of this activity, the participant will be able to:

• Discuss why lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury are present in foods.
• Explain the challenges of reducing the presence of the contaminants in foods.
• Identify the difference between a reference level of exposure to a contaminant and an action level for a contaminant in foods.
• Examine various activities that the FDA participates in to support the Closer to Zero initiative.

To Register

1. LMS Registration: *FDA Employees only. https://lms.learning.hhs.gov/Saba/Web/Main/goto/RegisterCatalog?offeringId=class000000000161779&oneClickLearningON=true
2. Webcast Registration: *All participants MUST register for webcast to view FDA Grand Rounds! https://collaboration.fda.gov/grandrounds1209reg/event/registration.html

FDA employees must register in both LMS and Webcast.

If you are not an FDA employee, register for the webcast only by clicking the Webcast Registration hyperlink above and then follow the instructions on the registration page. After Webcast registration, you will receive a link via email to access the live webinar. You must log in with the username and password created when you registered. Please pre-register at least two days before the event to ensure you receive the access link and outlook invitation for the session.

NOTE: Internet Explorer is no longer supported by the Adobe Connect platform. You must use MS Edge, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser.

For technical assistance please contact: Madison.Hanson@fda.hhs.gov

www.FDA.gov/GrandRounds