Food Protection Trends - July 2012 - (Page 382)

“COMMENTARY” from the executive director M embership, the life-blood of all associations. By any measure, membership In 1993,the mission statement for IAFP was just being developed. From my knowledge, there was not a formal mission statement prior to this time. Having just begun my employment as Director of Finance with “IAMFES” at the time, association work was new to me. Developing the mission statement was quite an interesting process to watch! There was a lot of discussion and word-smithing to arrive at the final By DAVID W. THARP, CAE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR drives everything we do at IAFP. The “blood” of IAFP has truly pumped hard and steady over the past few years as we have seen significant growth since 2006. In the last six years, IAFP Membership has grown by more than 650 Members; more than 21%! I communicate with a lot of association leaders and I cannot name one association that has seen even a double-digit percentage increase in membership. So, what is IAFP doing that seems to be attracting new Members to the organization? First off, food safety directly affects public health. Therefore, food safety gains more importance each and every day. As that happens, more people enter the food safety arena and are looking for credible information…IAFP delivers credible, food safety information. Food safety professionals are looking for colleagues who they can trust; who know solutions to food safety problems . . . IAFP delivers trusted, food safety colleagues. On a broader scale, people involved in food safety need to learn new developments and techniques related to food safety…IAFP delivers this information through its many worldwide food safety meetings and symposia. From students just entering the discipline, to those about to retire; IAFP offers everyone the opportunity to learn from others, to network and find experts to assist with problems, to learn about new products and services to make their responsibilities easier. In general, IAFP offers a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply. mission statement of: “To provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.” Looking back now after almost 20 years, the mission statement developed in 1993 is just as pertinent today as it was back then. IAFP continues to offer THE forum to exchange information on food safety! As we expanded over the past eight years to include a European Symposium, a Latin America Symposium, an Asia Pacific Symposium and we worked together with the China and Dubai food safety meetings; we have gained international exposure to food safety professionals thereby attracting them to IAFP’s Membership. We have seen our International Membership grow by leaps and bounds to where we now have almost 20% of our Membership residing outside of North America. This was not the case until we became internationally active AND we implemented a membership dues’ structure that was fair to “We are proud of the significant growth in IAFP’s Membership.” 382 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | JULY 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - July 2012

Food Protection Trends - July 2012
Contents
Sustaining Members
Food for Thought from Your President
Commentary from the Executive Director
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by Carnobacterium piscicola in Fresh and Pasteurized Crab Meat
Gold Sustaining Member Profiles
IAFP’s European Symposium on Food Safety
New Members
What’s Happening in Food Safety
Industry Products
Award Winners
General Information
Registration Information
Special Contributors and Sponsors
Advertising Index
Coming Events
Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents

Food Protection Trends - July 2012