Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023 - 547

Scott Moosekian, Paul Morin, Xiangwu Nou,
Rebecca Olsen, Pranita Patil, Catalina Pelaez,
Laurie Post, Alexander Prokup, Christophe Quiring,
Orhan Sahin, Gabriel Sanglay, Donald Schaffner,
Yang Shen, Alexandre da Silva, Julie Simcox,
Gregory Siragusa, Amanda Brookhouser-Sisney,
Daniel Smieszek, Robbie Smith, Yesutor Soku, Jack
Stevens, Leslie Thompson-Strehlow, Rachael Trott,
Alex Tudor, Persephone Valentine, Ann Charles
Vegdahl, Isabel Walls, Kaidi Wang, Stevie Ward, Li
Xiao, Mu Ye, Jingbin Zhang.
Number of Attendees: 84.
Meeting Called to Order: Sunday, 3:15 p.m.
Eastern Time, July 16, 2023.
Minutes Recording Secretary: Amanda
Brookhouser-Sisney.
Old Business: Reviewed the Anti-Trust Guidelines
and approved the 2022 minutes. Joe Meyer (out-going
chair) provided Board announcements. Reminded
attendees to utilize the meeting app and view the
video shared by the DEI council on equity and
inclusion. Outlined the success of the open access
webinar archive for the month of June with 9,000
views. The Journal of Food Protection is now open
access. Users can set up alerts to receive notification
when new articles are published. Reviewed the 2023
symposium and roundtable sessions accepted and
in the program for primary and secondary ALM PDG
sponsorship (seven total). Board responses to the
2022 recommendations were reviewed.
New Business: Dan DeMarco confirmed as the new
PDG Chair and Julie Weller announced as the PDG
Vice-Chair. Amanda Brookhouser-Sisney will serve
as Secretary and Pranita Surendra Patil will be the
Student Liaison.
The meeting was kicked off with the traditional
reading of The Night Before IAFP, a poem written by
Dan DeMarco. It is a (sort of but not really all that)
funny anecdote about microbiologists getting ready to
go to IAFP. Poem is reprinted below:
'Twas the night before IAFP and all through the
house, microbiologists at laptops, clicking with mouse.
The posters were hung in the hallways with care in
the hopes that grant funding soon would be there. The
microbes were nestled all snug on their slants, safety
glasses and gloves, but no underpants.
And mamma in her lab coat, and I in my gown, had
just settled our brains at the lab downtown.
When out from the bench there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away to the hood I flew like a flash, turned on the
blower and threw up the sash. UV light aglow on
stainless steel.
This cannot be happening, cannot be real. Before
my wondering eyes did appear,
IAFP conference proceedings and a six pack of beer.
The PDG members in attendance were slightly
amused.
The Validation and Verification Interest Group subleads
provided updates. David Legan spoke on the
group's background and progress. The subgroup was
started in 2017 to serve the needs of practitioners. Since
then, six webinars, four Food Protection Trends articles,
and a risk-assessment tool for verification/validation of
matrices have all been produced. Two of the four articles
have received the most read General Interest Article
awards. Most recently the article on Strain Selection for
Pathogen Method Evaluation received the award for
most read General Interest article in FPT over the past
two years for 2023. In the May/June 2023 edition of FPT
an article on Evaluating Microbiological Method Equivalence
was published. The success of this sub-group
has demonstrated that there is a need for guidance on
validation and verification for end-users.
Laurie Post provided an update from the Method
Discrepancy subgroup. Previous articles discussed
approaches to validation and verification and method
equivalence. A publication is currently in progress
which will explore discordant results that are
contradictory or at odds with what is known about the
product tested or assay performance. The objective
is to provide examples of these discrepancies and
possible ways to resolve them.
An update on webinars was provided by Amanda
Brookhouser-Sisney. The goal of this group is to
provide a different forum to share the information
produced in the various publications. Matrix Additions
to Rapid Pathogen Detection Methods Part 1 was
presented by Patrick Bird, Takiyah Ball and Gabriela
Lopez Velasco in May of 2023. The presentation
provided guidance on assuring the right fit for microbiology
methods. Part 2 is currently slated for September
2023 and will outline study design and how to employ
the matrix assessment tool. The group is seeking
volunteers to participate in Part 3 on validations.
Julie Weller leads the Inoculum Preparation and
Inoculation subgroup. This group is working on a
publication to provide an overview of how to prepare
cultures and accurately reach target inoculum levels
needed for verification and validation studies. This
encompasses the guidelines provided by AOAC,
USDA, ISO, and HC. The objective is to provide a
robust study design for laboratories to follow when
evaluating a method for pathogen detection.
The student PDG 2023 updates were provided.
This included a meet your favorite scientist activity
which connected students with food professionals to
talk about different career paths. Dan DeMarco noted
that sadly he had not been asked to participate in the
program as a " favorite scientist " The 3-minute thesis
competition allowed students to present their research
in a dynamic format. Students are encouraged to
submit proposals to the IAFP Annual Meeting.
November/December Food Protection Trends 547
Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023

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