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<< back to the 2001 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Commentary From The Executive Director Feel free to contact me at anytime if you have questions about Association
activities or operations This month I thought it would be of interest to cover some recent happenings in the Association. These include a couple of items from the April Board meeting, what is going on at the IAFP office, and a meeting in São Paulo, Brazil. First, let’s take a look at the Board meeting. The April Executive Board meeting took place at the Association office in Des Moines. For the last four or five years, Board Members have come to Des Moines two times per year for spring and fall meetings. This semi-annual visit allows inter-action with staff and has led to a real bonding and a level of trust not experienced prior to holding Board meetings at the IAFP offices. The time together allows Board Members to understand the type of tasks and the volume of work that the staff has to contend with on a daily basis. Our staff gains by talking with Board Members and learning about their work and how it helps to "advance food safety worldwide." A mutual respect for each other has blossomed and grown over the years. It has been wonderful to watch and experience these growing relationships. Two important agenda items for the spring Board meeting included budget approval for the next fiscal year and planning for the Association’s future. Of course the two go hand-in-hand. If the planning session creates a new project for the budget year, the budget must be able to accommodate the project. Goals were set for the year ending August 31, 2002. (We will have to review the planning goals in a future issue.) The budget was approved with a 9% increase in revenue over the current year’s budget — expenses were projected to increase by 9% also. The projected growth in revenue is mostly through our communications and Annual Meeting revenues. You will be glad to know the budget was approved without a dues increase for the year beginning September 1, 2001. Consider this, for $90 dues you receive Membership in the world’s leading food safety organization AND 12 issues of Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation. We will continue to offer the early payment option that allows a $10 discount if you pay within 30 days of your first renewal invoice. That means that your Membership is just more than $6.50 per month or 22 cents per day! Here we are just short of three months until IAFP 2001 — the Association’s 88th Annual Meeting. Activity has picked up steadily since the first of the year, April and May were busy with preparing the promotional brochure, administering the awards program, corresponding with more than 300 presenters and working with our exhibitors. June sees the bulk of our registrations come in and continued coordination with the Minnesota Local Arrangements Committee. Final preparations for the Program and Abstract Book along with the Awards Banquet Book and Opening Session Book must also be completed. In July, every detail is reviewed to be sure nothing is overlooked. Even the signage must be prepared, proofed and sent to Minneapolis. One of the last items on our timeline is to ship all program materials, office supplies and registration records to the Annual Meeting site. Then the real work begins! Annual Meeting is an exciting time for our staff because we are able to meet Members we have talked to on the phone; we are able to see Members we’ve met over the years and the staff has the opportunity to put our expertise to work in providing an environment favorable for our attendees to learn from other food safety professionals. Yes, it is long hours and a lot of hard work, but it is all worth it when we receive thanks and complements from you, the IAFP Members! That is truly what keeps us enthused and keeps us going. The last topic for this month is a meeting that took place early in May in
Brazil. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization
hosted a meeting on health and agriculture (RIMSA XII) in São Paulo for
ministry level personnel from North America, South America and Central America.
The objectives for this meeting included discussing matters of mutual interest
for health and agriculture and analyzing compliance with the strategic and programmatic
orientations of PAHO in veterinary public health and the plans of action of
its specialized centers: the Pan American IAFP was invited to send a representative to the meeting to interact with the meeting attendees. Our Executive Board Members were unable to attend so an invitation was extended to Dr. Fritz Käferstein to represent IAFP. He graciously accepted our request and will report on his attendance in a future issue of DFES. Be sure to watch for this special report. I hope this month’s column helps to keep you informed about the operations of the International Association for Food Protection. Feel free to contact me at anytime if you have questions about Association activities or operations. We are always happy to take your calls or answer your E-mail correspondence. For now, take care and we hope to see you in Minneapolis this August. |