Food Protection Trends - April 2010 - 210

from the executive director

“COMMENTARY”

hen writing this month’s column, I have just returned from Dubai and the Dubai International Food Safety Conference (DIFSC). So, I’ll concentrate on this event and the near future events that IAFP is working to coordinate. The conference in Dubai was the fifth successful conference held and was organized by the Dubai Municipality. As was discussed at the event, IAFP works with the Dubai organizers in helping to identify topics and speakers for the program. This year, more than one-third of the fiftyplus speakers were IAFP Members. Many of those who were not directly IAFP Members have strong ties to our organization and we hope they will soon join as Members too! The program was outstanding, covering many food safety issues including: third-party certifications, food safety culture, regulations, advances in food safety and many more. The DIFSC organizers do an excellent job of reviewing programs from past IAFP Annual Meetings and other symposia, looking for important topics and finding trusted authorities (speakers) to invite to speak at their meeting. This was the third year for IAFP’s involvement, and it is rewarding to see the increased interest in IAFP each year. After separate presentations by President Vickie Lewandowski and me, there were a large number of attendees who approached us to learn more about IAFP and asked how to become involved. It is exciting to see the growth in IAFP created by this conference and the other, nonNorth American conferences we support each year. When looking at Membership in each of the regions IAFP has concentrated on in recent years, it is easy to see a direct result in new Members.

By DAVID W. THARP, CAE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“IAFP Members can serve as a resource to help solve problems or issues you face each day in your job”

Our next event outside of North America is the European Symposium which will be held in Dublin, Ireland over the dates of June 9-11. The Organizing Committee worked hard to establish the program and we will enjoy excellent support from a committee of local food safety professionals. Everyone has gone above and beyond expectations in working to provide the appropriate

venue and environment for this, our sixth symposium in Europe. We offer an exceptional program this year and interest has been high from both Europeans and those outside of Europe. A capacity crowd is expected! If you are interested to review the program, it is available on the IAFP Web site. Technical presentations this year will include both poster and oral formats and supporting companies will be present in the exhibit hall. We will look forward to seeing you in Dublin. You might recall that our first International Symposium was held in Campinas, Brazil in May of 2008. We titled that Symposium as the “First Latin America Symposium on Food Safety” and now we are planning the second one in this series! With the assistance and guidance from our new Colombian Affiliate, the Second Latin America Symposium on Food Safety will be held in Bogota, Colombia this coming September. This conference is organized in conjunction with the Colombian Association of Food Science and Technology (our Colombian Affiliate) and the Latin America Association of Food Science and Technology. Between the three organizations, the synergy created will bring an audience of food safety professionals from all over Latin America to Bogota. Again, this will give IAFP great exposure to professionals who can both learn from our publications and who can contribute to the IAFP community. Speaking of “the IAFP community,” did you know that IAFP is on both Facebook and LinkedIn? From the IAFP Home page, you can link directly to either Facebook or LinkedIn and join the IAFP groups. There are discussions initiated by

210 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | APRIL 2010

Food Protection Trends - April 2010

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