By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The world is faced with critical food issues and The Ohio State University researchers plan to face the dilemma head-on with their new Food Innovation Center (FIC).

OSU will invest $3.75 million in the next five years in this effort, which will address global issues in food supply, food policy, nutrition and health. This involves 80 faculty members from 12 colleges.
“Ultimately, the goal is to improve food quality, safety and nutritional status of people around the world,” said Steve Clinton, an organizer of the FIC and a professor of internal medicine at OSU’s Comprehensive Care Center. “OSU’s unique position of having a variety of academic programs can help in researching all areas of the world’s food system.”

Representatives from all of the various colleges are expected to meet regularly to help coordinate the center’s efforts. Spearheading this is FIC Director Ken Lee.

“Feeding the rapidly growing world population (a projected eight billion by 2025) will require a 40 percent increase in the world food supply,” Lee said. “At the same time, we are wasting 40 percent of the current supply due to challenges in economics, safety, health, nutrition, security, technology and food policy. But it’s this kind of mission-oriented research that can tackle these issues.”

Lee said OSU is ideal for the FIC headquarters because it has colleges of agriculture, business, public health and veterinary medicine and integrated programs in human nutrition and food science.

“Having renowned food experts within walking distance of each other is a rare gift that this center allows us to build upon,” Lee said. “Large-scale collaboration works when people value each other.”

The FIC is one of two new Centers for Innovation (the other being the Comprehensive Cancer Center) strategically funded by OSU as a way to boost interdisciplinary efforts to improve the quality of the human condition. Funded jointly by the Office of Academic Affairs and Office of Research, each center will receive $750,000 a year for a five-year period. It is expected they will become self-sufficient in five years.

“For example, food safety is an important issue the center will study as more and more food goes from one nation to another,” Clinton said.

The 12 entities involved include the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Institute, the Fisher College of Business, the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, the Michael E. Moritz College of Law and the colleges of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Biological Sciences; Engineering; Medicine; Optometry; Pharmacy; Public Health; and Veterinary Medicine.

The center is expected to start operating early next year.