Food Protection Trends - August 2011 - (Page 506)

from the executive director “COMMENTARY” C ommittees, Professional Development Groups (PDGs), symposia organizers and convenors, presenters and speakers, Local Arrangements Committee members, student members – what could all of these groups have in common? They all help IAFP Annual Meetings to come together and play out with precision and accuracy. We are so fortunate to have Members willing to serve IAFP in many ways. Our Committee Members help to give direction to our journals, the organization of Annual Meetings and a number of other organizational functions for the organization. PDGs meet at the Annual Meeting and other times during the year to bring food safety professionals together around a common subject and to share information with colleagues. Most, but not all, of our Annual Meeting symposia come through proposals received from PDGs. Participation in a PDG is a wonderful way to get to know colleagues, and to become known, in your area of interest. Through this direct, face-to-face interaction, numerous fantastic ideas are generated and interesting topics are brought forward for the Annual Meeting program. By being involved, you increase your opportunities to plan sessions or become a speaker on the Annual Meeting program. Other possibilities for PDG participants include working on articles for publication, developing short, timely pamphlets and producing Webinars or workshops. Recently, the Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG and the Food Packaging PDG have offered successful Webinars. Webinars are an outstanding educational opportunity for IAFP Members and participation is possible via the live Webinar presentation or by By DAVID W. THARP, CAE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR “We are so fortunate to have Members willing to serve IAFP in many ways” viewing the recording after the live presentation. So, out of the PDG system, IAFP develops a majority of its educational offerings for Members and food safety professionals. If you are interested in making presentations at IAFP meetings or Webinars, the place to get started is through the PDG covering topics directly of interest to you. Over the past few years, we even added six or eight, new PDGs to cover more topic areas of interest for our Members. If you have a topic area that is not already being covered, make a proposal to the Board for a new PDG! Symposia organizers and convenors also play an important part in IAFP’s Annual Meeting. Organizers must keep in constant communication with the session speakers to assure the topics of each presentation flow together and do not overlap subject matter. This communication and organization all takes place prior to the Annual Meeting. Once on site at the meeting, convenors then take charge of the session and ensure the speakers are present. They introduce speakers, moderate question and answer periods and most importantly, they make sure the speakers keep to the time schedule. Presenters and speakers are the most vital part of our meetings. They are the experts who come prepared with knowledge and understanding of the topic area they are presenting. We are so privileged to have attracted subject matter experts who really want to come to the IAFP Annual Meeting to share their experience with other food safety professionals. This allows each of us to learn from the speaker’s expertise; to become aware of new threats or concerns about our food supply and to implement changes in growing, processing, distributing or serving of food. It is amazing when you think of more than 500 presentations on food safety that take place at IAFP’s Annual Meeting. There are just so many people who are dedicated to making our world’s 506 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | AUGUST 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - August 2011

Food Protection Trends - August 2011
Contents
Sustaining Members
Reflections of Your President
Commentary from the Executive Director
Assessment of the Potential for Cross-contamination of Food Products by Reusable Shopping Bags
Verification of Hygiene in Australian Manufacturing Beef Processing — Focus on Escherichia coli O157
IAFP’s European Symposium Hightlights
New Members
What’s Happening in Food Safety
Industry Products
Coming Events
Advertising Index
Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents
Membership Application
Celebrating 100 Years of IAFP: 2000s

Food Protection Trends - August 2011