Food Protection Trends

COMMENTARY from the Executive Director
October 2007

“Never before has the Association undertaken so many events designed to bring food safety professionals together in forums to discuss methods to protect the world’s food supply"
By David W. Tharp, IAFP Executive Director

This month’s issue of Food Protection Trends includes our review and recap of IAFP 2007 that was held July 8–11 at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. In addition to some comments about IAFP 2007, I want to cover a few other topics including: the Rome Symposium, a China Conference and electronic Secretary elections. So let’s start off with IAFP 2007!

There were so many special elements to IAFP 2007, it is hard to know where to begin. The venue itself was so much fun; being at the Contemporary Resort just outside of the Magic Kingdom led to excitement each day! Every day ended with fireworks over the Magic Kingdom and began with sunrise over beautiful Bay Lake. Our Opening Session began with a little magic of its own. Mickey and Minnie were on stage to welcome everyone to Walt Disney World. Mickey performed a few tricks with a final magic trick where Mickey disappeared and Frank Yiannas magically appeared in his place! This met with the audience’s approval and even Minnie was impressed.

In the Exhibit Hall after the Opening Session, Mickey reappeared along with Minnie for photo opportunities. There were a number of “odd” characters in the Exhibit Hall to entertain everyone. What a memorable beginning to IAFP 2007.

Beginning on page 757, there are a number of photos to help you relive IAFP 2007. For those unable to be with us this year, the pictures will provide a sense of excitement that prevailed at Walt Disney World. You may also review the session summaries provided by IAFP’s Student PDG monitors. Each year for the last several, the Student PDG has provided assistants for each of the session rooms to help with audiovisual needs and to assist the convenors. In addition, we ask that they provide a written summary of the session for publication in this issue. Those summaries begin on page 790. We thank the Student PDG for organizing this valuable service to IAFP 2007 and we thank each of the students who participated this year.

As you know, we rely on our exhibitors and sponsors to support our Annual Meeting. Their participation allows us to offer much more to our attendees than would be possible at our low registration rates. This year again, we provided lunch in the Exhibit Hall on Monday and Tuesday along with an end-of-day reception on both days. These events are directly sponsored along with a number of other events that really help the Association to provide a first-class experience for our attendees.

Speaking of attendees, this year we not only surpassed 2,000, but we topped 2,100 for a total attendance of 2,126! Our previous high was 1,774 in 2005 at Baltimore. So, we increased by 352 over that record or in other words, we had a 20% increase in attendance. It is interesting that our international attendance has increased over prior years to now be 16% of our total attendance. North American attendance was at 84% which includes 6% from Canada.

We look forward to con-tinuing our international growth in attendance and feel that our international symposia in Europe have helped spread the word about IAFP. That brings me to another topic, IAFP’s Third European Symposium on Food Safety to be held October 18–19 in Rome, Italy. We have seen excellent support from IAFP’s corporate community and look forward to excellent sessions later this month.

Another new venture for IAFP took place in September in China. Along with World Services, IAFP assisted in identifying speakers and topic content. As I am writing this column just prior to the China International Food Safety & Quality Conference (CIFSQ), I cannot report on specifics, but we expect great interest in IAFP and our journals. Watch next month’s column for more details.

The last topic I want to touch on is our next Secretary election. We will conduct this election electronically via E-mail and online voting. The details are being worked out, but it is expected that you will receive an E-mail during the first week of February with a link to the voting site. In the E-mail, you will receive a unique password to allow you to place your vote. The election will remain open for six weeks at which time the service agency will report directly to IAFP’s teller. This year, for those not having E-mail access, we will have an alternate means to complete your ballot. In future years, all voting will take place online.

This completes the items for October. It continues to be an exciting time for Members of IAFP. Never before has the Association undertaken so many events designed to bring food safety professionals together in forums to discuss methods to protect the world’s food supply! We look forward to continuing our work and involving more food safety professionals as we grow.