Food Protection Trends - August 2008 - 564

“LONE STAR PERSPECTIVE” from your president dvancing Food Safety Worldwide.” That is a pretty tall task for an organization of just over 3,000 members. For the last year as your president, however, I have seen IAFP promote food safety activity in a global forum that is nothing short of amazing. In the last 12 months, we have hosted or been directly involved in meetings in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. We have added three new international affiliates in Turkey, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Our Timely Topics Symposium in Washington, D.C. on prepared, but not ready-to-eat foods was a huge success. And, of course, our Annual Meeting in Columbus exceeded all expectations. Our reach and influence is impressive, and we are only getting started. So why are we doing this – just so we can say we are international? Hardly. While the Association has taken the lead in organization, the activity we are seeing is directly linked to the involvement, needs and work of our Members. Our membership is dedicated to our mission, and it is to their credit that our international footprint continues to grow. That is why IAFP is such an active and growing organization with a reputation for serving our Members – it all starts at a grassroots membership level. Since this is my last column as President, I can’t leave without saying a brief word about the people I have served with on the Executive Board. Because the Board is in constant annual rotation, I have had the pleasure of serving with Anna Lammerding, Paul “A By GARy ACUFF PRESIDENT “Our membership is dedicated to our mission, and it is to their credit that our international footprint continues to grow” Hall, Kathy Glass, Jeff Farber, Frank Yiannas, Stan Bailey, Vickie Lewandowski, Lee-Ann Jaykus and, now, Isabel Walls. In addition, Affiliate Council Chairpersons have included Steve Murphy, Stephanie Olmsted, Terry Peters, Maria Teresa Destro, Carl Custer and Roger Cook. What an outstanding group of people with whom to have served! I am honored to have been able to work with every one of them and doubly honored to be able to call them colleagues. I have always felt humbled to be in the presence of such great talent, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve. And now the “year of Stan” is here! I can assure you it is going to be fun! Of course, I must spend a few minutes telling you about the great job our staff has done. The IAFP staff members are a joy to work with. They are dedicated and diligent, working in the background to make sure IAFP functions like a well-oiled machine, and that frees up the Association membership to be out there doing what we do best, Advancing Food Safety Worldwide. If you have had any dealings at all with David Tharp or Lisa Hovey, you already know this, but we are extremely blessed to have them as our Executive “Dynamic Duo.” They are amazingly talented and easy to work with; but even more important is the fact that we can trust them with our Association at every level. I can personally assure you as a member of the Executive Board, David and Lisa do an outstanding job making sure the Board knows what is going on with our budget and finances, and I can’t tell you how much weight that takes off being a Board member. David, Lisa, Tamara, Farrah, Donna B., Pam, Donna G., Julie, Didi, Lani, Trinette and Karla – Thank you for all you do for IAFP! As you read this column, remember just a short time ago, when we were in the middle of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak associated with produce. Our colleagues in the regulatory agencies 564 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | AUGUST 2008

Food Protection Trends - August 2008

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