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<< back to the 2003 archive listing << Food Protection Trends COMMENTARY from the executive director There are a number of ways to become an active component of the program
at IAFP’s Annual Meeting Now that May has arrived, August is just around the corner and of course that means it is time for the IAFP Annual Meeting! This year, IAFP 2003 will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana August 10 through 13. It will be our 90th Annual Meeting and will be the first time in our history that we have met in New Orleans. We hope you are planning to be with us as we have some really nice events planned in addition to the excellent program content. We have heard reports that it gets warm in New Orleans in August, but that has not slowed our enthusiasm. You might remember a few other times when we have had meetings during the heat of summer: Orlando in 1997, Atlanta in 2000 and even Minneapolis in 2001! One thing is for sure; the temperature inside the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel will remain nice and cool. This issue of Food Protection Trends is our pre-Annual Meeting issue and contains all the information you need to plan your trip to New Orleans. If you are bringing your spouse, family or even a friend with you, you will want to review the daytime tours we are offering this year. There are four truly unique tours including a New Orleans city tour, a swamp and bayou tour, a tour to Oak Alley and San Francisco plantations and a New Orleans school of cooking tour. Each will provide you with a glimpse of the exceptional history and customs of New Orleans. We also have an extraordinary evening planned for our Monday Night Social. This year we will travel across the Mississippi River (by air conditioned bus) to Mardi Gras World, the birthplace of Mardi Gras. You will see actual floats used in the world famous Mardi Gras parades and you will learn the “behind the scenes” construction techniques used. Don’t wait to get your ticket for this event! Our Tuesday evening event is planned as a smaller group activity and will include a river cruise with jazz music on the Creole Queen. Your purchase of a ticket for this event helps support the IAFP Foundation. Both Monday’s and Tuesday’s events include dinner. Now that we have covered the extracurricular events, let’s look more at the program. This year to save on pages, we are printing only the session titles in FPT and we have the full program detail available at www.foodprotection.org. Simply click on the Annual Meeting button and then on the preliminary program link for the complete schedule including speaker names, times and presentation titles. There are close to 500 presentations on food science and food safety to be given at IAFP 2003. We are also offering two workshops planned for Friday and Saturday, August 8 and 9 prior to IAFP 2003. They are “A Hands-on Course in Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment” and “Assuring Confidence in Laboratory Data”. More information is available on pages 434, and 435. On page 422, a letter from Kathy Glass, Vice President is shown. It invites your participation in our Professional Development Groups (PDGs) and Committees. This is an easy way to contribute to the success of IAFP through your involvement in PDGs or Committees. Our PDGs under-take a variety of projects and provide suggestions for symposia to be presented at Annual Meetings. Committees provide guidance for various functions relating to the efficient operations of the Association. Just let us know if you are interested in participating in a PDG or serving on a Committee. Other items of interest relating to IAFP 2003 are the listing of sponsors (see page 437) and exhibitors (see page 438). The special relationship between IAFP and our sponsors and exhibitors has enabled IAFP to sustain Annual Meeting growth and allowed us to add new features to the meeting that we would not have been able to do without this type of support. When you have contact with our exhibitors and sponsors, please let them know that you appreciate their support of IAFP! Lastly for this month, we want to call your attention to page 401 where it is announced that Frank Yiannas will be our Executive Board Secretary for 2003-2004. We look forward to Frank beginning his five-year term on the Executive Board at the conclusion of IAFP 2003 in New Orleans. We want to thank Donna Garren for standing as a candidate for Secretary this year. Donna is very active in IAFP and we know that we can count on her to continue her involvement. Thanks to both Donna and Frank for their willingness to serve IAFP in this capacity. It is Members like them who made IAFP what it is today! |