Minutes

90th Annual Business Meeting
August 12, 2003 • New Orleans, Louisiana

President-Elect Paul Hall welcomed attendees and introduced President Anna Lammerding.

Moment of Silence
President Anna Lammerding asked those present to observe a moment of silence in memory of departed colleagues. She also noted that this year’s Annual Meeting was dedicated to the memory of Harry Haverland.

Call to Order
The Annual Business Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection was called to order at 4:50 p.m. at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans, Louisiana. A quorum was present as defined by the IAFP Constitution.

With the approval of the Executive Board, President Lammerding appointed Randy Daggs as Parliamentarian for the Business Meeting.

Minutes
Minutes from the IAFP 89th Annual Business Meeting were approved as they appeared in the October 2002 Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation. The motion was made by Christine Bruhn and seconded by David Fry.

President’s Report
President Anna Lammerding reported on programs and activities of IAFP over the past year. She reported that a food toxicology group met to determine interest in forming a PDG, the Student PDG continues to see growing involvement with students serving as room monitors, and audiovisual assistants for IAFP 2003, and holding their third job fair.

President Lammerding then presented the President’s awards. David Larson, IAFP Publisher Representative, received the award for his continued efforts with the Exhibit Hall and Sponsorship programs in addition to selling advertising for the journals. Awards were presented to the IAFP Staff; Donna Bahun, Julie Cattanach, Bev Corron, Lucia Collison McPhedran, Karla Jordan, Pam Wanninger, Didi Loynachan, Donna Gronstal and Farrah Goehring for their tireless efforts on behalf of the Association. She then presented awards to Fred Weber, Weber Scientific, for his work on the FPT Strategic Plan and for implementing the Maurice Weber Laboratorian Award; Wilbur Feagan, F & H Food Equipment Company, for his support of the Association through the Black Pearl Award and the Foundation Fund; Susan McKnight, Quality Flow, who began the Water Quality & Safety PDG and for her enthusiasm and support; and Frank Yiannas, Disney World, for being a strong personal supporter of the Association, an active member of the Florida Association that makes great gifts to the Foundation Fund, and, as Chair of the Retail Safety & Quality PDG, headed the International Food Safety Icon project.

President Lammerding then presented Charters to the two new Affiliates. Gordon Hayburn and Louise Fielding accepted on behalf of the United Kingdom Association for Food Protection and Tina Pedroso accepted on behalf of the Portugal Association for Food Protection.

Tellers Committee Report
Peter Slade, Teller, reported there were 790 votes received, with 6 being illegal. Frank Yiannas was elected as Secretary for the 2003–2004 year. A motion by Michael Brodsky and seconded by Jack Guzewich to accept the report and destroy the ballots was approved.

JFP Management Committee Report
Chairperson Isabel Walls reported 20% more manuscript submissions were received last year with 80–90% being published within 10–12 months of submission, half of the articles were from outside the US. JFP Online has been active for one year, and since online manuscript submission began in April, 36% of the 2003 manuscripts received were submitted online. The Committee considered a request regarding providing complimentary PDF reprints to authors and determined that the financial implications to the Association should be considered before making such a decision. There was considerable discussion regarding an article published in FPT and it was ultimately determined that they recommend to the Board that a formal policy for articles relating to food security should be developed. John Sofos agreed to another four-year term as Scientific Editor. Isabel thanked the IAFP Staff for their continued hard work with the Journal.

FPT Management Committee Report
Fred Weber reported that this was the first committee meeting as Food Protection Trends with 31 people in attendance. The new look and name for the journal began in January 2003. Weber thanked Christine Bruhn for her work as Chair and thanked outgoing member Harold Bengsch for his work both as a committee member and as the first Committee Chair. The article “Food as a Weapon” was added to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. There was much discussion on the topic with several members, the Scientific Editor and one of the authors participating. Fred expressed his appreciation to Isabel Walls and the JFP Editors who attended to give their perspective. Recommendations will be made to the Board to formulate a policy for enhanced review of articles that impact food safety and security and to reappoint Bill LaGrange for another four-year term as Scientific Editor. Fred noted that due to low article submissions, the journal is looking for articles.

Foundation Fund Report
Stan Bailey reported that the Committee’s discussion focused on Harry Haverland and how to continue his work and goals. One goal, suggested by Wilbur Feagan, was to build an asset base of one million dollars over the next few years. This year’s Silent Auction raised a total of $4,605.50. Everyone was encouraged to donate items to next year’s auction. Recommendations to the Board included sending Members a letter requesting memorial contributions to the Foundation Fund, consider naming the Fund the “Harry Haverland and IAFP Foundation Fund,” include a specific amount to the Foundation Fund on the membership renewal forms with an option for the member to strike out that amount from the form, and include a Foundation Fund contribution of $100 on the application form for exhibitors with the option to strike the amount. Gale Prince was elected as Vice Chair. Zeb Blanton, Frank Yiannas and Peter Hibbard of the Florida Association for Food Protection then presented the Foundation Fund with a $1,000 check
in memory of Harry Haverland. Other members also contributed cash and checks in honor of Harry.

Affiliate Council Report
Gene Frey reported that 23 Affiliates, including the United Kingdom, were present at the meeting. This year two new Affiliates received their charters. Gene also noted that the Affiliate Education Session needs financial support and thanked Fred Weber for his continued support. The new Affiliate Council Secretary is Stephanie Olmsted. Two of the Affiliate membership awards were dropped and replaced with a single Membership Achievement Award that focuses on the affiliates’ efforts to grow their membership from within. Gene noted that leadership for the Affiliate Council was turned over to Steve Murphy, Chairperson, and Stephanie Olmsted, Secretary.

Executive Director’s Report
David Tharp reported that overall, the past year was a good one for the Association.  Even in the tough economic conditions of the last year, Membership continues stable at just short of 3,000, which provides evidence of the quality information on food science and food safety distributed by IAFP.  Publications ran on schedule throughout the year and record numbers of articles were submitted for the Journal of Food Protection.  A nice growth curve for JFP Online was reported.

Student involvement continues to grow with the Student PDG holding its fourth annual luncheon this year in New Orleans. Again this year, students served as session room monitors and audiovisual assistants. In addition, students from Louisiana State University and Mississippi State University assisted the IAFP staff at registration and with social events. David thanked all students who helped out during IAFP 2003. 

The General Fund Statement of Activity for the year ending August 31, 2002 was distributed showing results that reduced the General Fund balance by $62,460. This was a very disappointing result to an otherwise great year. David pointed to a few reasons for the financial results: IAFP’s investment portfolio lost more than $20,000, excess revenues for IAFP 2002 came in about $10,000 short of what was expected while the same shortfall of $10,000 was experienced from the Annual Meeting Workshops, and we incurred higher than expected expense for Journal production and shipping costs. On a better note, projections for this year show us recouping at least a portion of this loss.

David reported that IAFP 2003 again has set many new records. Attendance is expected to be above 1,450 attendees, submitted technical abstracts increased by 33%, 46 submitted symposium were received, a 15% increase in exhibitor booths and a 50% increase in Annual Meeting sponsorship revenues were seen. Even with this growth, IAFP 2003 continues to be small enough to network with the worldwide leaders in food science and food safety.

To conclude, David thanked the IAFP staff for their hard work in preparing for the Annual Meeting while carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities. He also recognized the Executive Board and IAFP Members for the trust and support they place in him.

Unfinished Business
No unfinished business was brought before the Annual Business Meeting.

New Business
Ewen Todd brought up a question of adding Annual Meeting presentations to the Web site. David Tharp responded that there would be much cost involved and difficulty obtaining the presentations from the presenters. Ewen asked that we consider adding a request to symposium organizers on the Call for Symposium form to provide the presentations for the Web site for next year.

Michael Brodsky presented four proposed amendments to the Association Bylaws as printed in Food Protection Trends. He was asked for clarification of each of the amendments. A motion was made by Christine Bruhn to amend the Proposal 2 by inserting the following wording after IAFP: “and shall contain articles of scientific and general interest.” Then remove “and” and capitalize “the”. Discussion took place with some opposition to the amendment. A motion was made by Sid Camp and seconded by David Fry to table the amendment for consideration next year. Christine Bruhn moved that the word “quiet” be removed from the Proposal 4. A motion to amend was seconded by David Golden and passed with one opposed. A motion to approve the amendments to the Bylaws as presented and amended was made by Jack Guzewich and seconded by Ewen Todd. It passed with one opposed.

Adjournment
President Lammerding adjourned the meeting at 5:52 p.m.