Food Protection Trends - November/December 2019 - 543

1.

Welcome and Introductions:
* Leon Gorris opened the meeting and welcomed
the PDG members and guests. Leon explained
that his term as Chairperson had come to an
end and that Ian Jenson now would become the
Chair of the PDG, and that DeAnn Benesh had
been elected by the PDG members as the new
Vice Chairperson.
* Ian Jenson assumed the role of Chairperson,
and thanked Leon for his commitment to the
PDG in his time as Chair.
* Roger Cook, Board Liaison, welcomed everyone
to Louisville on behalf of the IAFP Board. He
highlighted a few new things: Webinars will now
be offered FREE - no need to find sponsors to
support their funding, so we are encouraged to
initiate more Webinars. Also, encouraged was
the use of the IAFP Connect social media platform.
* Ian reminded the participants of the purpose of
the meeting and presented the anti-trust guidelines and the proposed agenda.
* Attendees briefly introduced themselves.
2. Review of Agenda - Call for additional items
* Ian called for any additional items for the agenda.
Roger Cook commented that it would be great
to have Regulatory updates from other countries
not on the agenda, but present in the room.
* Ian commented - the Board accepted our
request to extend the PDG meeting to 3 hours,
but we missed this point when setting this year's
agenda. We will extend the meeting time in
future meetings.
Old Business:
3. Discussion/Adoption of the 2018 PDG Meeting
Minutes:
* The minutes of the 2018 PDG meeting were
accepted as printed in FPT. (Motion to accept
Ewen Todd, seconded by Deon Mahoney.)
Accepted.
New Business:
4. Overview of IAFP 2019 program (Symposia and
other Sessions of PDG relevance):
* An overview of the program was provided by
Ian. Sessions of international interest were
highlighted for each day - those either initiated
by this PDG or that have an international aspect
to them.
5.

Short Updates on Food Safety developments from
around the world:
* The Chairpersons had invited PDG members
on the roster prior to the meeting to present an
update.
* Kang Zhou from FAO spoke about how low
to middle income countries are affected the
most by food safety concerns because they
can also have issues with trade laws, their
ability to handle illness when it occurs, etc.

*

*

*

*

The 1st FAO/WHO/AU International Conference on Food Safety was held in February
in Ethiopia: theme - Future of Food Safety;
and the International Forum on Food Safety
and Trade in Geneva, Switzerland on 23-24
April 2019. The two international events
brought together more than 1,500 food safety
leaders from over 140 national governments
and agencies, academia, international
organizations and the private sector. They
highlighted the integral role of food safety in
achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, as well as in supporting the
UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. An Annex
will be posted in IAFP Connect for Further
information.
Peter Ben-Embarek from WHO, provided an
update of activities of the International Food
Safety Authority Network (INFOSAN). Greater
than 100 food safety events were coordinated
by INFOSAN and because of food chains and
exportation, all involve more than 1 country.
A Microbiological Risk Assessment Series
for Micro and Chemical has been published.
And, JEMRA's focus: STEC, V. parahemolyticus and V. vulnificus in seafoods, Micro risk
assessment methodology update, micro water
safety and quality. mobilize countries to put
FS on their agendas.
Bob Brackett, Director of IFSH, provided an
update on FSPCA. The alliance was to come
up with a standardized curriculum of FSMA
requirements training for the industry - first for
the Preventive Control rule, now for ALL rules.
A technical assistance network has been
initiated to answer questions from industry
and there are plans to grow this group of
experts internationally. Training has mainly
been conducted in the U.S., Canada, China,
Australia, Latin America, some European
countries, and more needs to be done in
Africa.
Jason Wan announced the 5th APAC Food
Safety International Conference - will be
held in Hong Kong, November 4-5, 2019
(held every 3 years). There is a flyer about
this in conference bag.
Barbara Kowalcyk, from Ohio State University, provided an update on Food Safety
initiatives funded by the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation and United Kingdom
AID (UKAID). The call was for approaches
that would help low-middle income projects
(mostly Africa and SEA). Four, 4-year projects focused in Ethiopia, 2 in other African
counties. Asked for all projects to overlap and
coordinate with each other. TATARE: Looking
at Salmonella, EHEC, Campylobacter in raw
beef and raw dairy - look at the value chains
and interventions. FOCAL: EPI surveillance
and control; ENSURE: prevalence of safe and

November/December Food Protection Trends

543
Food Protection Trends - November/December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - November/December 2019
