In observance of Black Heritage Month, IFSAN wants to recognize the Black community’s past and ongoing contributions to food safety and nutrition security.
For example, Maude E. Callen was a community health nurse whose frontline work emphasized household sanitation, safe food practices, and maternal and child nutrition in underserved communities. As reflected in historical accounts of Black public health advocacy and broader discussions of African American contributions to food and food safety, this collective, community-based work helped shape early approaches to food safety, nutrition education, and public health in the United States.
Building on this historical legacy, we also recognize an African American leader whose work today advances food safety and nutrition through prevention, access, and food system design.
Another example is Karen Washington, a longtime food justice advocate and organizer whose leadership has focused on equitable access to safe, nutritious food through local food systems and urban agriculture. Her work highlights how food safety begins at the source, through how food is grown, handled, and accessed before it reaches consumers. Through this lens, her efforts demonstrate how prevention, transparency, and food system design influence food safety and nutrition outcomes.