Food Protection Trends - November 2009 - 806

Policy on Commercialism for Annual Meeting Presentations 1. INtRODUCtION No printed media, technical sessions, symposia, posters, seminars, short courses, and/or other related types of forums and discussions offered under the auspices of the International Association for Food Protection (hereafter referred to as to Association forums) are to be used as platforms for commercial sales or presentations by authors and/or presenters (hereafter referred to as authors) without the express permission of the staff or Executive Board. The Association enforces this policy in order to restrict commercialism in technical manuscripts, graphics, oral presentations, poster presentations, panel discussions, symposia papers, and all other type submissions and presentations (hereafter referred to as submissions and presentations), so that scientific merit is not diluted by proprietary secrecy. Excessive use of brand names, product names or logos, failure to substantiate performance claims, and failure to objectively discuss alternative methods, processes, and equipment are indicators of sales pitches. Restricting commercialism benefits both the authors and recipients of submissions and presentations. This policy has been written to serve as the basis for identifying commercialism in submissions and presentations prepared for the Association forums. consideration should be given to withholding submissions and presentations until the data are available, as only those conclusions that might be reasonably drawn from the data may be presented. Claims of benefit and/ or technical conclusions not supported by the presented data are prohibited. 2.3 trade Names Excessive use of brand names, product names, trade names, and/or trademarks is forbidden. A general guideline is to use proprietary names once and thereafter to use generic descriptors or neutral designations. Where this would make the submission or presentation significantly more difficult to understand, the Program Committee chairperson, technical reviewers selected by the Program Committee chairperson, session convenor, and/or staff, will judge whether the use of trade names, etc., is necessary and acceptable. 2.4 “Industry Practice” Statements It may be useful to report the extent of application of technologies, products, or services; however, such statements should review the extent of application of all generically similar technologies, products, or services in the field. Specific commercial installations may be cited to the extent that their data are discussed in the submission or presentation. 2.5 Ranking Although general comparisons of products and services are prohibited, specific generic comparisons that are substantiated by the reported data are allowed. 2.6 Proprietary Information (See also 2.2.) Some information about products or services may not be publishable because it is proprietary to the author’s agency or company or to the user. However, the scientific principles and validation of performance parameters must be described for such products or services. Conclusions and/or comparisons may be made only on the basis of reported data. 2.7 Capabilities Discussion of corporate capabilities or experiences are prohibited unless they pertain to the specific presented data. 2. tECHNICAL CONtENt OF SUBMISSIONS AND PRESENtAtIONS 2.1 Original Work The presentation of new technical information is to be encouraged. In addition to the commercialism evaluation, all submissions and presentations will be individually evaluated by the Program Committee chairperson, technical reviewers selected by the Program Committee chairperson, session convenor, and/or staff on the basis of originality before inclusion in the program. 2.2 Substantiating Data Submissions and presentations should present technical conclusions derived from technical data. If products or services are described, all reported capabilities, features or benefits, and performance parameters must be substantiated by data or by an acceptable explanation as to why the data are unavailable (e.g., incomplete, not collected, etc.) and, if it will become available, when. The explanation for unavailable data will be considered by the Program Committee chairperson and/or technical reviewers selected by the Program Committee chairperson to ascertain if the presentation is acceptable without the data. Serious 806 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | NOVEMBER 2009

Food Protection Trends - November 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - November 2009