Food Protection Trends - September/October 2022 - 409

PDG HIGHLIGHT
Pre-Harvest Food Safety PDG
The first meeting of the Pre-Harvest Food Safety PDG
took place on August 1, 2010 at the IAFP Annual Meeting
held in Anaheim, California. The PDG was established by
Siddhartha (Sid) Thakur (North Carolina State University)
and Divya Jaroni (Oklahoma State University). Today, the
PDG has grown successfully to 408 members, including
highly competent stakeholders (professionals in academia,
government, industry, and students) with diverse interests
and rich backgrounds. This perhaps attests to the critical role
that pre-harvest can play in food safety and the enormous
complexity and challenges associated with controlling
hazards at the pre-harvest level.
The main mission of the PDG is to work toward understanding
and controlling the factors that affect the emergence,
persistence, transmission and ecological niches of
pathogens that may impact human health at the pre-harvest
level. Furthermore, the PDG strives to engage in outreach,
education and establishing scientifically sound and applicable
agricultural practices. Therefore, the PDG currently
emphasizes:
* The role of pre-harvest in providing safe food globally.
* Dissemination of lessons learned: successful pre-harvest
interventions.
* Pre-harvest challenges in low- and middle-income
countries and their ramifications locally and globally.
* The use and advantages of advanced genomics in
monitoring pathogens of interest.
* Emerging and re-emerging pathogens and their
adaptations, including the emergence of antimicrobial
resistance.
* Pre-harvest challenges during crises, including the
COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts.
September/October Food Protection Trends 409
In recent years, the PDG has been instrumental in
facilitating and supporting notable roundtables, symposia,
and workshops that address the issues highlighted above,
including:
* Multi-Level Approach to Combating Antimicrobial
Resistance; a symposium at the IAFP 2018 Annual
Meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
* Pre-Harvest Food Safety Challenges and Research in
Developing Economies; a roundtable at the IAFP 2020
Virtual Annual Meeting.
* The Silent Pandemic: The Emergence and Spread
of Antimicrobial Resistance in Food Systems in the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region; a
symposium at the IAFP 2022 Annual Meeting held in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
* Addressing Urban Agriculture with a One Health
Approach to Food Safety Vulnerabilities and Successes;
a symposium at the IAFP 2022 Annual Meeting held in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The current Pre-Harvest PDG Chair (Issmat Kassem;
University of Georgia) and Vice Chair (Camila Rodrigues,
Auburn University) aim to continue expanding the
membership of the PDG (with emphasis on students and
young professionals), supporting its highly important
mission, and shaping its aforementioned emphasis.
Issmat I. Kassem, Chairperson
issmat.kassem@uga.edu
https://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/sep-oct-22-pdghighlight.pdf
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