Ecolab Inc. continued its ongoing commitment to help improve global food safety by co-sponsoring the fifth annual Nation's Restaurant News' Food Safety Symposium. A ?special report? highlighting the event appears in the October 18 edition of Nation's Restaurant News.

Held in September at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C., the annual symposium brings together dozens of quality assurance executives from the top foodservice chains and operations across the United States. The event provides attendees with a platform for sharing best practices, proactive and preventative approaches, and personal experiences surrounding food safety issues.

Michael P. Doyle, Ph.D., Regents Professor of Food Microbiology and Director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, was this year's keynote speaker. In his address, Doyle predicted that spices and increased amounts of imported produce will emerge as food safety hot spots for restaurant operators in the coming years. He pointed to a recent outbreak involving black and red pepper from four Asian countries that sickened hundreds of Americans with Salmonella.

?About 75 percent of our U.S. spice imports come from eight countries: India, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Madagascar, Mexico and Vietnam,? Doyle told his audience. ?We have some real gaps in food safety for these imported foods and they largely relate to sanitation processes.?

At the same time, Doyle believes improved outbreak reporting systems are also likely to thrust the restaurant industry into the public eye more often. He noted that Pulsenet - a network of federal, state and local health officials who share information about pathogen subtypes to aid outbreak investigations - has helped link small numbers of illnesses across wide geographic areas to common causes.

Other event topics included FDA Food Code changes, global food safety initiatives, the impact of social networking on food safety and employee training, and best practices in dealing with food allergens.

?The Ecolab/NRN symposium is an invaluable networking tool for food safety and quality assurance individuals from all segments of the food industry,? said Robin Lowe, Vice President of Quality Assurance at Golden Corral Corporation. ?The trust our customers place in us everyday is extremely important and this food safety event exemplified everyone's willingness to put competition aside in order to continually educate ourselves and each other on vital solutions that will benefit the entire industry.?

With sales of $6 billion and more than 26,000 associates, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) is the global leader in cleaning, sanitizing, food safety and infection prevention products and services. Ecolab delivers comprehensive programs and services to foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, and hospitality markets in more than 160 countries. More news and information is available at www.ecolab.com.

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Ecolab Inc.
Jennifer Kirscher, 651-293-2846