March 12, 2020
Keeping Tabs on the Impact of the COVID-19
The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, with both short- and long-term implications relative to managing and mitigating the impact to our public health, food supply chain, global financial markets, and more.
As part of the Integrated Food Systems Leadership (IFSL) program curriculum, we regularly explore issues and trends affecting our food system. The IFSL students recently discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during a scheduled, synchronous, online conference call as part of their Food Security, Safety and Defense course.
During the discussion, the students recognized that global health crises, like COVID-19, have negative impacts on our food supply chain as critical food production areas that distribute around the world experience disruption. The disruption may be caused by significant worker illness rates or from quarantining with its disruption to the logistics needed to move food from farm to fork.
From the food safety angle, although SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, is not a foodborne pathogen, the IFSL discussion focused on potential spread by food packaging as food product is handled through the distribution process to retail shelves and through the risk of environmental contamination of public areas related to food service and restaurants.
The students will continue to monitor and examine the impact COVID-19 has as they continue their journey and education in the IFSL program. In light of universities across the nation moving classes online to help contain the spread of the COVID-19, the IFSL graduate certificate program has been able to continue without disruption as it's a primarily online program. The learning tools and format utilized for the IFSL program support the class’ analysis and discussions of current food system trends and issues and how they relate to the subject matter courses. There are two on-campus sessions (one at the beginning of the program in September and again at the end of their program the following September), the University will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and adapt these sessions to an online format as appropriate.
Two particular sites worth sharing include the tracking of the Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases at John Hopkins University and animated version of the Flatten the Curve graphic. In particular, the Flatten the Curve graphic shows the importance of acting early through personal hygiene and social distancing which slows the spread of COVID-19 and prevents cases from exceeding the capacity of our medical community to provide care.
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About the Integrated Food Systems Leadership (IFSL) Program
Designed for working professionals, the IFSL program is an innovative graduate certificate program that fosters leadership, collaboration, and innovation across the food system. For more information visit https://ifsl.umn.edu.