Food Protection Trends

COMMENTARY from the Executive Director
October 2006

" This is an exciting time in IAFP’s history as we become more actively involved outside of North America ”
By David W. Tharp, IAFP Executive Director

This month I want to give an update on our planning for the Second European Symposium on Food Safety. The symposium will take place in Barcelona, Spain on November 30 and December 1 and covers the topic of “Innovations in Food Safety Management.” It is a comprehensive, one and a half day symposium covering the subject matter.

Speakers from Europe and North America will pry into topic areas of: “Advancement in Risk Analysis and Food Safety Management,” “Innovation in Food Pro-ducts,” “Innovation in Microbiological Methods,” and “Emerging and Hot Topics in Food Safety” during the symposium. In addition to the presentations, we expect a number of scientific posters to be presented along with a small exhibition from industry suppliers. All in all, this will be a well-rounded program on “Innovations in Food Safety Management.”

We invite you to attend this symposium. Everyone is welcome, especially our Members from Europe. The IAFP symposium series is designed to provide timely information for food safety pro-fessionals along with establishing a place for IAFP Members to come together outside of North America. These opportunities allow our Members to interact with colleagues who may not already be IAFP Members; to provide them with information about the Association, our publications, and our Annual Meeting; and to encourage them to join the Association and become actively involved.

From the interest shown in our First European Symposium on Food Safety held in October of
2005 in Prague, many attendees expressed the desire to hold this event again in the near term. The Executive Board responded by approving the second symposium for Barcelona! We have seen great interest by supporting companies and already have commitments from bioMérieux, DuPont Qualicon, Invitrogen and Lab Ferrer to sponsor and/or exhibit. There are other companies who are considering adding their support. With this support, it is easy to see why IAFP is considering a continued presence in Europe!

We also want to recognize our partners who helped to develop the program. This year, we had assistance from both the World Health Organization and the International Life Sciences Institute–Europe. We appreciate the input and being able to collaborate with representatives from both organizations in preparation for this symposium.

Where does this lead us for the future? Will IAFP continue to hold a European Symposium? Will IAFP begin symposia in other regions of the world? These are questions that the Executive Board will address during its November meeting. This meeting will take place just prior to the Barcelona meeting, but the Board should have preliminary information about the Second European Symposium and be able to address these questions.