Because of recent cases of laboratory-acquired infection and universities’ desires to minimize student and institutional risk, the academic sector is facing more stringent university-wide biosafety regulations in research laboratories. This has had a trickle-down effect on undergraduate teaching laboratories. An adhoc survey of undergraduate food microbiology instructors illustrates the types of changes underway, from required biosafety training of undergraduates to mandated containment of microbial pathogens (biosafety hoods) for all BSL-2 agents, to the complete prohibition of working with BSL-2 agents in the teaching laboratory environment. These changes have resulted in undergraduate students receiving less hands-on training with important foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. Such changes impact our ability to adequately deliver our curricula and train future food safety professionals in methods that will be critical to their careers. The proposed roundtable provides a venue for discussion of this issue amongst academic, industry and government stakeholders, as well as our students. Key questions to be explored include the following: To what extent is there uniformity in biosafety requirements for undergraduate teaching laboratories across U.S. campuses? What is the appropriate usage of non-pathogenic surrogates to replace microbial pathogens for the sake of student training? What is the best way to approach BSL-2 training at the undergraduate level? What would be the training implications if university Environmental Health and Safety divisions ban the use of pathogens in undergraduate teaching labs? For example, how do future employers feel about hiring young food safety professionals who do not have hands-on training for work with BSL-2 agents? How should investigators approach university biosafety officers in order to promote rigorous and applicable student training while minimizing risk? The IAFP roundtable format is ideal for promoting dialogue on this important topic. The intention is to create a white-paper for publication in Food Protection Trends.