Heather Fisher returned from Tokyo last month with authentic green tea, blueberry bubble gum and a dedication to work on international food issues.
Fisher, an MSU dietetic intern, attended the International Students Summit on Food, Agriculture and the Environment in the New Century at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, a sister school of MSU.
“Many of the issues they deal with (in Japan) we are also concerned with in the United States and at Michigan State University,” Fisher said.
Genetically modified foods and animal diseases such as mad cow and foot-and-mouth were international concerns discussed at the conference.
Students from countries such as Korea, China and the Netherlands attended the summit, which recognized the 110th anniversary of the Tokyo university.
Upon closing the conference, Fisher said the students adopted the Tokyo Declaration and began work on an e-mail network.
“The deceleration says we as students and future professionals in our field will work together to solve some of these issues,” she said.
“We are supposed to be getting an e-mail network and making a Web site and trying to involve as many students around the world as we can to give suggestions and add any research they did.”
At the summit, Fisher and her Canadian counterpart reviewed and offered comments on reports presented by Asian summitgoers. She reviewed the food safety reports.
“Food security is important for any person in the world,” she said. “In order to survive we have to be able to eat and we don’t want to get sick from the food we eat.”
Fisher was asked to give both the American perspective and her own views.
“They are really concerned about biotechnology and genetically modified foods,” she said.
The Tokyo university invited MSU to send a student to the summit for free. Fisher was chosen after faculty reviewed her essay on food safety.
“We felt Heather would be a good representation of Michigan State,” said Rhonda Crackel, a specialist in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.
“All the students that entered were outstanding.”
The Tokyo university has hosted MSU Study Abroad programs and MSU faculty on food safety and agriculture-related topics.
Fisher said people at the summit were happy she was still willing to fly to Toyko after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“They said it must have took a lot of courage and that I must have felt it was really important - and I did,” she said. “They made me sing the national anthem, and then other people sang their anthems.”
Frank D’Itri, a professor emeritus of fisheries and wildlife, said the trip allowed Fisher to make connections that will help her in her effort to work for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
“(The summit) is looking upon these young university students as tomorrow’s leaders,” he said.
“They are making them feel important in terms of their opinions. They learned more about other cultures and agriculture systems.”
