Food Protection Trends - November/December 2022 - 477

After a full day of Committee and
PDG meetings, Sunday evening's
Opening Session brought together
a ballroom of attendees eager to kick
off another Annual Meeting. President
Ruth Petran officially welcomed attendees
to Pittsburgh and touched on IAFP
happenings over the past year before
recognizing the various groups who
helped pull together our first in-person
only meeting in three years.
Safety Fellowship, established in 2018
as a tribute to Dr. Theno, long-time IAFP
Member and renowned food scientist,
who unexpectedly passed away in 2017.
Dr. Ben Chapman, representing sponsors
STOP Foodborne Illness and the Michigan
State University Online Food Safety Program,
came to the stage to present this
year's fellowship to Kiley Doherty, a recent
graduate from UC Berkeley's School of
Public Health.
President Petran then brought Gary
Acuff, Foundation Chair, to the stage to
report on the Foundation's goals and
accomplishments over the past year.
After the rebounds of the past couple of
years, the Foundation numbers remains
solid. Despite the ups and downs of the
stock market, the Foundation was able
to provide travel expenses this year not
only to 2022 Travel Award recipients
but also several 2021 and 2020 Travel
Award recipients who were unable to
attend during the past two years. Gary
encouraged attendees to stop by the
Foundation Booth during IAFP 2022 to
donate and visit with Travel Award recipients
who have benefited from some of
the educational programs supported by
the Foundation. He suggested donations
could also be made online and through
Amazon Smile to help add funds to
the Foundation - at no charge! Those
donating at least $50 received the ninth
in a series of commemorative coins to
add to their collection. In closing, Gary
announced a new Foundation goal of
reaching " $4 Million by 40 " to celebrate
the Foundation's 40th Anniversary in
2024. A surprise announcement on
Tuesday kickstarted this goal with
Dr. Katie Swanson and her husband,
David, generously donating $10,000 to
go toward the Foundation's new initiatives.
IAFP is pleased that more than
$38,000 was donated throughout the
Annual Meeting - many from first-time
contributors - to continue the valuable
opportunities through Travel Awards,
webinars, speaker support, and other
programs! Thank you to all who volunteered
at the Foundation Booth and
contributed at this year's meeting and
through your website donations.
President Petran returned to the
stage to recognize two awards sponsored
by other organizations and that
the Association continues to help promote,
including the Dave Theno Food
4
November/December Food Protection Trends 477
Another award IAFP is proud to
promote is the Peanut Proud academic
scholarship, awarded to a U.S. graduate
student in the field of microbiology, and
specifically in the area of peanuts and
peanut butter food safety. Peanut Proud
is a non-profit industry organization
based in Georgia with the sole purpose
of celebrating pride in the peanut industry
through humanitarian efforts and recognition
of excellence. Darlene Cowart, Corporate
Food Safety Director for Birdsong
Peanuts (and representing Peanut Proud),
presented Arpita Aditya from the University
of Maryland in College Park with this
year's scholarship.
Gary was asked to return to the stage
to help present plaques to recipients of
the 2022 Student Travel Scholarship
(funded through the IAFP Foundation), as
Wendy White announced 23 recipients -
20 of which were in attendance - and their
respective institutions. Read more about
this year's Student Travel Scholarship
recipients and their experiences while
attending IAFP 2022 starting on page
505. In addition, four 2021 and seven
2020 Student Travel Scholarship recipients
were recognized from the audience.
Plaques were also presented to two
of the three recipients in attendance of the
Travel Award for State or Provincial Health
or Agricultural Department Employees
in North America. Three recipients of the
Travel Award for a Food Safety Professional
in a Country with a Developing
Economy were also announced, with two
in attendance. And one 2021 recipient of
this travel award who was in attendance
was recognized from the audience. Read
about the Travel Award recipients and
their IAFP 2022 experiences, starting on
page 502.
President Petran asked PresidentElect
Michelle Danyluk to help present
three out of five of this year's Fellow
Award. Those honored for their long-time
contributions to IAFP and its Affiliates
included David Blomquist, independent
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