Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023 - 536

COMMITTEE AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT GROUP MINUTES
Food Protection Trends
Management Committee
Attendees: Angela Anandappa, Adam Baker,
Christine Bruhn, Byron Chaves, Cathy Cutter, Peyman
Fatemi, Connie Fisk, Stephen Grove, Ian Jenson,
Jovana Kovacevic, Bobby Krishna, Judy Luther, Adeel
Manzoor, Martin Martinez, Matthew Moore, Amrit Pal,
Ruth Petran, Joy Saha, Jason Scheffler, Cangliang
Shen, Manpreet Singh, Laura Strawn, Purnendu
Vasavada, Surabhi Wason.
Total Number of Attendees: 24.
Meeting Called to Order: Sunday, 3:01 p.m.,
July 16, 2023.
Minutes Recording Secretary: Surabhi Wason,
Student Liaison.
Old Business: Connie Fisk was elected as the
Committee's Vice-Chair by all attendees. 2022 minutes
were discussed and approved. Executive Board report
was discussed; opening the webinar series to all in
June (world food safety month) had great success.
Guidelines to access FPT were described. Catherine
Cutter has reviewed the statistics of publications in
FPT.
New Business: Laura Strawn took over as chair of
the Committee.
Elsevier's AI policy was discussed, and the summary
of this policy (including its main advantages) was
described by Dr. Matt Moore. The failure and success
of AI technology and its use in publications were
discussed. The adoption of an AI policy (similar
to Elsevier's) was supported by the committee in
the meeting. This policy will be modified by our
Scientific Editor, Dr. Cathy Cutter, and shared with
the committee. This policy will be discussed and reevaluated
at the IAFP 2024 Annual Meeting (inclusion
on the agenda for feedback on how it worked from the
Scientific Editor/IAFP staff associated with FPT.
Adoption of " Equitable Practices for Publishing
in FPT " was discussed (avoidance of slang, etc. in
journal article titles). Dr. Cathy Cutter would discuss
this with the editorial board. Slang is confusing so the
adoption of this policy was preferred.
Book reviews in FPT were discussed, and Dr. Cathy
Cutter explained this could be included in the general
interest section with guidelines and approval by the
Scientific Editor. Many members of the committee
believed this type of book review would add value to
the journal and scientific community. Maybe a book
review editor could be appointed, or different FPT
536 Food Protection Trends November/December
editorial reviewers for each category of food science
area including microbiology, molecular, nutrition and
allergen, etc. Suggestions were given to focus this
type of general interest paper on lay audience (less
technical).
It was discussed that FPT articles could be made
open-access after 6 months of publishing date. IAFP
webinars were viewed 9,000 times in just one month
after making them open access and thus, making FPT
articles open access would benefit non-IAFP members
by giving access to science.
Accessibility was discussed as being an important
initiative of FPT/IAFP. The committee also felt strongly
this could be a benefit to authors submitting to FPT,
as many funding sources, or authors are required to
publish in open-access journals. This idea was strongly
supported, and discussed as a game-changer.
An associate director was recommended to be
appointed to assist the Scientific Editor, Dr. Cathy
Cutter. This associate Scientific Editor would help to
create a sustainable path to excellence in the journal
by ensuring Dr. Cutter's institutional, and cardinal
knowledge of FPT could be transferred to the new
Editor. Also, the committee has plans to grow FPT, and
this would help with the workload, and foster a similar
structure to JFP.
There is a need for new ideas and strategic planning
for long-term plans for FPT. It was discussed a consultant
could help the FPT committee facilitate and work on
these long-term goals. A discussion was had about how
positive the collaboration was for JFP bringing in Judy
Luther. A few points were discussed such as encouraging
people to click on the FPT website to access FPT and
how we can do this - what would be draw for members.
Apart from fantastic science, it was discussed to include
a portion for affiliates " awesome affiliates. " Updating
" Beyond the Bio, " and maybe even including a section on
past IAFP traditions including ice sculpture, crazy hats at
banquets, Weber microscopes, among other things that
would be generated by members (this could be neat to
engage new members or members who aren't as familiar
with some of these things like the Weber microscope
prize for the Laboratorian Award. Affiliates play an
important role so they could be highlighted.
There was a comment on an issue with the
FPT website. Sometimes, there is an issue with
advertisements showing up on the website which
makes it challenging to read the paper digitally. It was
discussed that IAFP staff/management committee
would look into accessibility issues with reading FPT
online and links working.
Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023

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