Food safety education and training is a large and diverse sphere of activity.  Complexity exists in the breadth of students, trainees and stakeholders, as well as in the different types of training and education that are available to the different stakeholder groups.  At the same time, measures of training and education effectiveness and impact are many and varied. However, while some people talk about evaluation fatigue and others point to studies showing improvements in knowledge and attitudes following training, there are still limitations to our understanding of both how to attract and best educate the future food safety managers and how to make sure food safety training is effective in instilling the desired food safety skills and behaviours.   

Previous symposia have considered capacity building and competency frameworks needed to structure the way forward.  This roundtable aims to tackle the next level of detail in terms of practical solutions.  Building on the work of the Food Safety Education PDG, this roundtable will engage with food safety professionals and educators to answer key questions about education, training effectiveness and start to resolve food safety education problems.  Roundtable panel members will represent groups with interests in educating and training future food safety professionals, current industry personnel and consumers.  Speakers will briefly set the scene in their sector areas and audience participation and debate will be encouraged to explore problems and solutions.  It is intended that findings of the roundtable session will inform a white paper and action plan to fix current problems with food safety education and enhance food safety training effectiveness.