Food Protection Trends - January/February 2023 - 6

COMMENTARY
FROM YOUR PRESIDENT | Michelle D. Danyluk
Friends, the end of 2022 has been
a whirlwind of IAFP activities!
You'll have seen that after 30 years
with IAFP, David has announced his
retirement. I'm sure you'll join me
in congratulating him on his welldeserved
retirement. Watch for more
information about plans to celebrate
him and his career!
You'll also have seen Emilio was nominated
as USDA's Under Secretary for Food Safety and had to step
down from the Executive Board to fulfill his new role. Past President
(2020-2021) Roger Cook has stepped back in as President-Elect,
pro tem to bridge the gap until we hold an election. The newly elected
individual will join the Board in April and assume the position
of President at the end of the Annual Meeting in Toronto. Because
members of the Executive Board are normally elected to serve for
5-year terms (which includes year-long stints as Secretary, Vice President,
President-Elect, President, and Past President), the Board and
Nominating Committee felt it best to look to Past Presidents to serve
again in an abbreviated term as President and Past President. I'm
thankful that Isabel Walls and Tim Jackson have agreed to stand for
election. The Board will be well served by either of them as President,
again.
While all this was going on, I've had the privilege of representing
IAFP at meetings around the world. At the end of October, David and
I virtually attended the China International Food Safety & Quality
Conference. We had two fantastic " days " (nights for us in North
America) of sessions on a variety of food safety topics. While still
held in a hybrid format this year, we look forward to all being
together with Cary Sun and his team in the future.
In early November, David, Lisa Hovey, and I travelled to attend
the Dubai International Food Safety Conference which was IAFP's
first time back since 2019. If you've never attended this meeting, I
highly recommend it - the sessions were fascinating, the questions
were insightful, and the science presented in the posters was top
notch. Congratulations to Bobby Krishna and his team for another
meeting well done; IAFP is well served by this partnership.
I traveled on to Busan, South Korea for the International Conference
on Food Safety and KoSFos Annual Meeting. I cannot
overstate how impressed I was with my experience here, and the fantastic
work being done by the Korean Affiliate. I met with members
whose first IAFP meetings were in the 1980s, who shared stories
of their experiences with the Association and with numerous Past
Presidents, and new student members whose first Annual Meeting
was this past year in Pittsburgh. I was very impressed by the science
being presented by students and young scientists. A special thanks
to my host, Dr. Hyun-Gyun Yuk, for taking such good care of me in
Korea.
In November, David and I traveled to Medellin, Colombia to
attend CLAMISA, the Latin American Food Congress: A Comprehensive
Look at Food Systems that includes IAFP's Latin American
Symposium on Food Safety. We were joined by many IAFP Members,
from North, Central, and South America for four days of fascinating
talks, posters, and roundtables. A Bad Bunny concert was also being
held in town, so while the traffic left something to be desired, the
science and interactions did not. Dr. Janeth Luna, the Colombian
Affiliate, and the Colombian Association of Food Science and
Technology facilitated a fantastic experience for all.
(Continued on page 106)
FROM YOUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | David W. Tharp
The year 2023 will be a time of
change! As Michelle Danyluk mentions
in her President's column, I have decided
the time is right for me to retire. The
end of April will mark the completion
of 30 years with the Association. It has
been an honor and a pleasure to have
had this opportunity to lead IAFP for
so many years. Some IAFP Members
may know this story, but when I began
my job as Director of Finance with IAMFES, I thought " this will
pay the bills until next fall when I can return to public accounting
and tax work. " Well, after my first Annual Meeting and meeting
so many nice, dedicated Members, I immediately felt a part of the
" family. " Members were so welcoming, and they truly appreciated
that we were there to support their efforts.
I might say too that I took it as a challenge to see if we could
bring the Association into a sound financial position. Because in
1993, after more than 80 years in business, the Association had
a negative operating balance of about $100,000. So we set out to
make improvements, adjust our price structure, and see what could
be accomplished.
At that point in time, we had about 2,500 Members and about 850
people attended our Annual Meeting - there were 50 or 60 exhibitors.
If we compare to pre-pandemic numbers, we had 4,500 Members with
6
Food Protection Trends January/February
3,800 Annual Meeting attendees and 190 exhibitors. That is really great
growth, but we know there is more opportunity for additional growth!
Our 2022 attendance number rebounded nicely, and 2023 looks like
we will be approaching our " back to normal " levels.
Over the years from 1993 to 2000, we were able to grow our
cash reserves which allowed us to take on a bit more risk. Another
big push came at the end of the century when Members voted to
change the Association name to its current name of " International
Association for Food Protection. " This was a name that would become
easily recognizable by food safety professionals around the
world.
One thing that bothered me and our Board Members early on
was that we were an " international " association but we had not
acted in an " international " manner. It finally happened in 2005. We
held our first meeting outside of North America. In conjunction
with ILSI Europe, we conducted a one-day, European Symposium
on Food Safety with 80 people in attendance. Every year since, we
have held this symposium with a growing number of participants...
up to the COVID years. This year in May, we hope to regain where
we left off in 2019 and have a record attendance in Aberdeen,
Scotland. We hope to see you there.
Soon thereafter, we joined together with the organizers of the
China Food Safety and Quality Conference. The first conference
was held in 2007, and we have been an integral part of the conference
from the beginning and up to today. About the same time (in
(Continued on page 106)
Food Protection Trends - January/February 2023

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