Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023 - 494

Sunday evening's Opening
Session took place in the
Convention Centre's spacious
ballroom. President Michelle
Danyluk officially welcomed
attendees to Ontario and her
native country of Canada, and
provided comments on her
year as President that included
many Association changes and
challenges. She also recognized
the various groups who helped
produce this year's Annual
Meeting. Nadia Narine, OFPA
President and Delegate, then
approached the stage on behalf
of the Local Arrangements
Committee to express her thanks
to everyone who took time and
effort to attend and provided a few
recommendations of some not-tomiss
city landmarks and highlights
while visiting Toronto.
President Danyluk asked Gary
Acuff, Foundation Chair, to
report on the Foundation's
goals and accomplishments
over the past year. Foundation
contributions through May 2023
were at $81,000, which will
continue to help fund many of
the valuable programs offered for
our Members. Gary mentioned
several new programs that the
Foundation has funded or plans
to fund in the upcoming months,
including the Dependent Care
Grant for 2023; the new IAFP
Europe Food Safety Award; a
Professional Development grant;
an International Student Research
Exchange Program; and a JFP
Article Processing Charge (APC)
grant for authors from countries
with developing economies.
Since an additional $60,000
is necessary to consistently
support these programs, the
Foundation will need a base fund
of approximately $4,000,000 to
generate this level of spending,
which led to his reminder to
the audience of the " $4M for
40 Years " Campaign currently
in process. He encouraged
attendees to stop by the
Foundation Booth to donate and
visit with Travel Award recipients
who have benefited from some
of the educational programs
supported by the Foundation.
Online donations are welcome
as well. Those who donate at
least $50 will receive the tenth
in a series of commemorative
coins to add to their collection. In
addition, a new IAFP Foundation
Coin Case with an engraved
IAFP logo on the glass door
cabinet is available for sale to
those who wish to proudly display
their collection. Those wishing to
purchase this case can visit the
IAFP website.
President Danyluk returned
to the stage to announce this
year's recipient of the Peanut
Proud academic scholarship.
Normally presented by Darlene
Cowart, Corporate Food Safety
Director for Birdsong Peanuts
(and representing Peanut Proud),
the 2023 recipient, Veeramani
Karuppuchamy, a student at
The Ohio State University in
Columbus, was unable to attend
this year's meeting. Peanut Proud
has graciously agreed to honor
his scholarship to attend IAFP
2024 in Long Beach, California.
President Danyluk then called
Gary back to the stage to help
present plaques to recipients
of the 2023 Student Travel
Scholarship (funded by the IAFP
Foundation), as Wendy White
announced 21 recipients - 18 of
whom were in attendance - and
their respective institutions. Read
more about this year's Student
Travel Scholarship recipients and
their experiences while attending
IAFP 2023 starting on page 521.
In addition, one 2022, one 2021,
and one 2020 Student Travel
Scholarship recipients unable to
attend previously were recognized
from the audience.
Plaques were also presented
to this year's five recipients of
the Travel Award for Health
or Agricultural Department
Employees in North America.
One 2020 recipient of this award
who was in attendance was
494 Food Protection Trends November/December
Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023

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