Food Protection Trends - June 2009 - 328

“perspectives” from your president t is almost time for the 2009 Annual Meeting. Hopefully, you have your hotel room reserved, your meeting registration, your plane ticket, and are ready to go. As I mentioned in my April column, the hotel and meeting space this year is excellent. The Scientific Program this year is as strong as ever. From the opening session Ivan Parkin lecture, Navigating Food Safety through Times of Economic Chaos: A Call to Action, by Dr. Paul Hall, through the over 500 technical presentations and posters, 29 symposia, and two roundtable discussions to the Wednesday afternoon John H. Silliker lecture, The 2008 Irish Dioxin Crisis: A Public Health, Food Safety, Economic, Legal or Risk Communication Challenge by Dr. Patrick Wall, there will be many presentations that will be informative and interesting to you. As those of you who regularly attend the IAFP Annual Meeting know, the biggest problem that you will have all week is deciding which session to go to at any given time. You can see the full program on the recently redesigned IAFP Web site, www.foodprotection. org. In addition to the scientific program, I wanted to highlight the three excellent pre-meeting workshops that we have organized this year. The two-day workshop this year, Your Toolkit for Cleaning by Design – What Can Go Right will address everything to do with cleaning of equipment in the food processing environment. Whether building a new facility, remodeling an existing food plant and retail establishment, purchasing new equipment, or simply repairing existing structures or equipment, participants will receive practical information from experts in meat, liquid, dry, and retail food processes in designing cleaning and sanitation programs that can be implemented to advance food safety and quality. On Saturday, the first workshop, I By STAN BAILEy PRESIDENT “As those of you who regularly attend the IAFP Annual Meeting know, the biggest problem that you will have all week is deciding which session to go to at any given time” Microbiological Sampling and Testing in Food Safety Management will (re-) introduce participants to the principles and limitations of microbiological sampling and testing for food safety assurance. Participants will learn how the performance of a sampling can be determined and how suitable sampling plans for particular pathogens and foods and intended consumers are established. The use of sampling and testing in food safety management will be discussed and illustrated from both the governmental and industry perspectives. The second workshop on Saturday, Beyond Food Safety Management – How to Create a Food Safety Culture will give participants a real working knowledge of different behavioral change theories, key elements of an effective food safety culture, and a thorough understanding of the differences between a traditional food safety management system versus a behavior-based food safety approach. As a takeaway resource, participants will also receive an autographed copy of Frank Yiannas’ new book, Food Safety Culture, Creating a Behavior-based Food Safety Management System. As most of you reading this column know, the IAFP Annual Meeting is considered by most food safety professionals to be the best scientific meeting they attend each year. From the quality of the scientific program to the social activities associated with the meeting, your Annual Meeting does not just happen. Four to five years before the Annual Meeting, the Executive Board determines what area of the country we would like to hold the meeting, and David Tharp, Executive Director and Lisa Hovey, Assistant Director begin to identify cities with acceptable hotel and convention space to host the meeting. They usually identify two or three choices and present these to the Executive Board who ultimately decide on the location. David and Lisa then negotiate a contract with the h o t e l a n d c o nve n t i o n c e n t e r. Approximately a year ahead of the meeting, the Program Committee, working with the different Professional Development Groups begins to develop the scientific program and workshops. The IAFP staff working 328 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | JUNE 2009

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Food Protection Trends - June 2009

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