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<< back to the 2002 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Commentary From The Executive Director You are sure to fall in love with San Diego San Diego in the summertime! San Diego for the Fourth of July! San Diego anytime! I cannot think of a city in the USA that has a more constant temperature year-round than San Diego. High temperatures in the mid 60s to the upper 70s all year – that sounds pretty tempting to a Midwesterner! As you are aware, IAFP 2002 will be held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego from June 30 to July 3 this summer. From the average temperature charts, we can expect highs in the mid-70s during our stay and overnight low temperatures in the low to mid-60s. The weather should be beautiful for our 89th Annual Meeting. This issue of DFES is our pre-Annual Meeting issue and contains program information, exhibitor listings, descriptions of tours, pre-meeting workshops and our social events along with the registration form. Also included are instructions on making your hotel reservations. If you haven’t done so yet, we encourage you to pick up the phone now and make your reservations. We arranged a great, economical rate for you at the finest hotel in all of San Diego – the Manchester Grand Hyatt! You will have a beautiful view of San Diego Bay from your hotel room while relaxing between presentations. The hotel is convenient to Seaport Village which houses unique shopping and dining facilities. A short walk away is the historic Gaslamp District with a large number of top-rated restaurants and nighttime entertainment areas featuring live music and dancing. You are sure to fall in love with San Diego! Although the weather, the city, restaurants and entertainment might attract your attention, we know that even more important to our Annual Meeting attendees is the program content for the meeting. The Program Committee spent many hours bringing this year’s program together. We have more than 400 presentations on the agenda for IAFP 2002! There are 23 sym-posia, 6 technical sessions and 5 poster sessions in addition to 2 lectures and the Opening Session Ivan Parkin Lecture. You can review the session topics on page 287 of this issue. Additional details such as presenter name and presentation titles will be available in the May issue of DFES or at the IAFP Web site (by the end of April). There is something for everyone on this year’s program, so be sure to check it out. We have made time in the schedule for socializing and networking with colleagues. Monday late afternoon and evening brings two additional options for socializing. After the day’s sessions conclude, a reception held in the Exhibit Hall gives rise to conversation and relaxation. Immediately following that reception, the Monday Night Social takes place at the famed San Diego Zoo. Be sure to join your colleagues for this fun-filled trip to the zoo. An exclusive dinner will be provided and there will be time for your exploration of the zoo displays. It is sure to be an evening to remember! Coffee and other refreshments are available in the Exhibit Hall during session break times and at other times during the day; so be sure to take advantage of these times to network also. On Tuesday evening, we have a very limited number of tickets available for our San Diego Dinner Cruise on San Diego Bay. Otherwise, Tuesday evening is left open for your choice of socializing options. Venture out to Old Town with friends, walk to the Gaslamp District for a relaxing dinner with colleagues or dance the night away; the choice is yours to make! On Wednesday evening we will wrap up IAFP 2002 with the Awards Banquet. This is a great time to gather to honor and recognize the achievements of many of your colleagues. This year the banquet will take place on July 3 – you may want to consider extending your stay in San Diego to take in all of the celebrations that occur on the Fourth of July. There will be fireworks in the Bay and all around town! Many neighborhoods and area attractions hold festivals and celebrations so plan now to stay over! Bring the family too! As you can see, there is lots of planning that goes into the Annual Meeting. One group who is helping us out this year is a new Affiliate named Southern California Association for Food Protection (SCAFP). This Affiliate will assist us with many of the local arrangement’s functions as many other Affiliates have done in the past. Because they are new and do not have the number of people necessary to perform all of the functions, we will also receive assistance from the Student PDG. We want to thank both the Student PDG and SCAFP for their willingness to help bring the leading food safety conference to San Diego! We look forward to seeing you there! |