Food Protection Trends

COMMENTARY from the Executive Director
March 2007

“As we prepare for IAFP 2007, there are many details that need to be tended to”
By David W. Tharp, IAFP Executive Director

February has been a very busy month for IAFP and March will continue to be the same! I thought this month, we could review the many items and projects underway at the IAFP office.

As we prepare for IAFP 2007, there are many details that need to be tended to. The Program Committee met at the end of January to review technical abstracts and symposia. Upon completion of our two-day meeting, the program for IAFP 2007 was finalized. Symposia titles are shown on page 202 in this issue and a more detailed program is available online at the IAFP Web site. The Program Committee also reviewed and accepted four workshops to be held in conjunction with IAFP 2007. Those titles are on page 167 with additional information available on the IAFP Web site.

Now that the program is finalized, we are working with Disney’s Contemporary Resort to place each of the sessions in the appropriate rooms. In addition, we have a large number of “special” functions that have to be scheduled around our sessions. Those include Exhibit Hall receptions, the President’s Reception, our Past Presidents’ Dinner, a Student Mixer, the Foundation Fundraiser, our Monday Night Social at Epcot, Saturday’s Golf Tournament and more! See our Annual Meeting information starting on page 200 for more details.

At the first of February, we mailed ballots to all IAFP Members for the 2007–2008 Secretary election. You should have received a ballot by now and we hope you have marked your vote and mailed your ballot back to the IAFP office for receipt prior to Friday, March 16. Candidate pictures and bios are presented on page 186. Once the deadline date passes, we will box up the unopened ballots and send them to the IAFP Teller for tabulation. Our new Secretary will be announced in May’s issue of Food Protection Trends.

Two other important deadlines arrive on March 12. Those are the deadlines for Award nominations and applications for the Student Travel Scholarship. Both are excellent mechanisms for recognition. IAFP’s Awards Program recognizes those individuals who have contributed to the Association and to food safety throughout their careers. The Student Travel Scholarship recognizes those students who have a most promising career in front of them!

Up to this point, we have reviewed Annual Meeting related projects. In addition, we are now producing a monthly, electronic newsletter titled, IAFP Report, that is sent to all IAFP Members. There is a new base level of Membership that includes the IAFP Report without print copies of either the Journal of Food Protectionor Food Protection Trends. Members can now choose to add FPT, JFP or JFP Online to their base Membership, thus allowing each Member to select the information that is important to them individually. We have had to restructure our Member records to allow for this change and there is additional work during this year of transition as Members settle into the type of Membership that suits them. Although there is extra work involved, we feel this is a great new opportunity for Members to be able to select the services they really want to receive.

At the Board meeting held at the end of January, the Board agreed to continue to plan a European Symposium each year. We will target the fall months of September, October or November as we make our plans. The Organizing Committee for the 2007 Symposium, now our third, has been formed and the program topic and speakers are expected to be finalized by June. So, as we prepare for IAFP 2007, concurrently, we are planning for the European Symposium. Keep watching our Web site and FPT for further announcements on this Symposium.

In addition to the European Symposium, beginning in 2008, we plan to hold an “International Symposium” in another region of the world. Preliminary plans are to conduct a symposium in South America, most likely Brazil. Then in 2009, we are looking to the Pacific Rim. IAFP is making strategic moves to become actively involved in providing food safety information on the International level.

We hope this update of some of the projects at IAFP helps you to understand the working of your Association. It is a truly exciting time to be a Member of IAFP!