With the human population on the rise, the need to produce enough food to feed the world, and the safety of that food, is an increasingly important topic. Cath has dedicated her career to Food Safety research and her talk highlights how climate change and population increases will not only impact our ability to produce food, but also exposes the potential vulnerabilities associated with the safety of our food supply. Cath is the Chief Science Officer at Cawthron Institute here in Nelson and has previously held diverse roles within the regulatory, scientific and food industry sectors.

Her recent positions include Director of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre, where she was pivotal in increasing collaboration on food safety issues across Aotearoa, and Director of the consultancy company Seafood Safety Assessment Ltd, where she focused on providing food safety and market access advice to primary producing industries, retailers and government.

Cath’s qualifications include an MSc on marine biotoxins in shellfish and a PhD on foodborne viruses from Victoria University of Wellington, giving her an overarching perspective on two major human food safety issues. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx