Food Protection Trends

COMMENTARY from the Executive Director
November 2006

"What is a rapid response and when should it be used?”
By David W. Tharp, IAFP Executive Director

Rapid response. What is a rapid response and when should it be used? First, we need to define “rapid response” or at least provide background to what “rapid response” means to IAFP. You may have noticed in previous reports about IAFP’s future planning that we have discussed holding a “rapid response” symposium or conference in response to a recent issue in food safety. Our intent was to bring together experts and those involved with the issue to present information to stakeholders affected by the issue.

To answer the question, “when should it be used?” we can cite a couple of examples. First,
I’ll provide an example of when it was not used. A little more than a year ago, avian influenza was spreading and the North American poultry flocks were directly at risk of being contaminated. This topic was discussed (many times and in many ways) by our task force along with the Executive Board, where it was deter-mined that avian influence was not a food safety issue. Yes, it well could be devastating to the poultry industry and it could affect poultry workers, but it was unlikely that avian influence would be transmitted through the food supply. In this case, the decision was that this topic did not warrant a “rapid response” session by IAFP.

Next, for the more exciting example of when it should be used, we will review the evolution of a “Rapid Response Symposium.” As an IAFP Member, toward the end of September and beginning of October, you received a number of E-mail notifications about our first Rapid Response Symposium. This symposium was held on October 6 in Arlington, Virginia just three weeks after FDA’s order to the public to not consume spinach due to a death linked to E. coli found in bagged spinach.

The FDA’s order was issued late in the day on September 14. Publicity spread on Friday, the 15th and by the end of the day, spinach was gone from store shelves and menus across the country. As this took place, there was a series of communications between our task force, Gale Prince, Bob Buchanan and Mike Doyle that was initiated by our Past President Kathy Glass. The discussion addressed whether this was a topic that warranted holding IAFP’s first Rapid Response Symposium. The task force response was “yes,” they felt it was worthy of planning a symposium. Kathy graciously bowed out of the planning, as she was the chair of the task force through August, when Jeff Farber then took over.

The recommendation then went forward to the Executive Board who also agreed that the topic was one of extreme interest to our Members. By Monday, our current Past President, Jeff Farber and President, Frank Yiannas had developed a tentative program. As we moved forward during the first week, IAFP consulted with United Fresh Produce Association a nd the National Restaurant Association regarding the program topic and content. A small number of other individuals were consulted and asked to review the program for completeness and topic con-tent. Linda Harris at the University of California-Davis was recruited to help contact and confirm speakers. By the end of week one, we had a tentative program completed and all speakers had been invited. At this point, the E-mail notice to IAFP Members was sent. One week after the product freeze, and IAFP had developed a symposium to bring food safety leaders together for a face-to-face discussion! The symposium was titled, “Fresh Leafy Greens – Are They Safe Enough?”

As the second week evolved, the program was revised (many times I might add) and by the end of the week, we had a solid program set. Another E-mail was sent to Members inviting attendance. Registrations came in, as did a number of sponsorships. The following companies and organizations recognized the importance of this symposium by providing sponsorship monies: bioMérieux, DuPont Qualicon, Ecolab, National Restaurant Association and their Educational Foundation, Silliker and the Technical Committee on Food Microbiology from the Inter-national Life Sciences Institute, North America. We were delighted to receive support from each and every contributing organization!

Well, we had just more than 100 at the symposium and were very satisfied with our first attempt at holding a rapid response symposium. Our target for success was set at 80 attendees, so exceeding this was exciting. Attendees voiced overall satisfaction and were complementary about IAFP’s involvement in holding this symposium.