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Food Protection Trends COMMENTARY from the Executive Director “One IAFP
Member can make
a difference. We
know that many
IAFP Members
help to promote
IAFP in their daily
work and for that
we are thankful” This month, I want to review
the actions of one IAFP
Member to provide an
example of what good that one
person can do! First though, we can
now report that more than 2,100
people attended IAFP 2007! We
thought you would be interested
to know we not only broke 2,000
but breezed on by 2,100 attendees.
That equals a 24% increase over
our attendance of 1,705 in 2006!
Thank you to all presenters and
attendees who made IAFP 2007 a
huge success and a gigantic thank
you to our special contributors,
sponsors and exhibitors!!! In
October’s Food Protection Trends, a
full review of the Annual Meeting
will be provided. During July, Maria Teresa
Destro visited three countries
in Latin America to share her
knowledge of food safety issues
with those interested. Some may
recognize that Maria Teresa just
concluded a one-year term on the
IAFP Executive Board, serving as
the Affiliate Council Chairperson.
Maria Teresa is a professor at the
University of São Paulo in Brazil,
became an IAFP Member in 1994
and has attended IAFP’s Annual
Meeting consistently since 1999.
She, with the help of others at the
University, established the Brazil
Association for Food Protection as
an Affiliate of IAFP in 2002. So, in early July, Maria Teresa
traveled to Costa Rica to talk on
food safety issues with people
from academia, government and
some from private companies. In
her presentation to the assembled
group, she also ncorporated a
message about IAFP, about our
leading food safety meeting and
about our journals; Food Protection
Trends and the Journal of Food
Protection. She was somewhat
surprised that a very small number
in the audience were aware
of IAFP, our Annual Meeting
or our journals. In further discussions
with leaders in Costa Rica,
she encouraged their participation
in IAFP through Membership and
also encouraged them to consider
establishing an Affiliate organization
to address food safety issues “the
IAFP way.” “The IAFP way” brings together
food safety leaders from
academia, government and industry
to share information on protecting
the food supply in order to provide
for good public health. It is our
mission “to provide food safety
professionals worldwide with a
forum to exchange information on
protecting the food supply.” With
Maria Teresa’s leadership, it appears
we will soon charter an Affiliate in
Costa Rica! Later in July, Maria Teresa
journeyed to Peru and Colombia.
She presented research information
on Listeria and ISO 17025
to academia, lab workers and
researchers from private companies
and public institutions, such
as those belonging to ministries
of health or agriculture. In both
countries, she again presented
information about IAFP’s activities.
Maria Teresa reported that of
90 attendees in Peru and 70 in
Colombia, only 2 in each country
had heard about IAFP or the
journals. She said, “They got really
interested and asked me a lot of
questions about the Association.” The reason I bring up Maria
Teresa’s experiences is two-fold.
First, it is a good example of how
one person, one IAFP Member
can make a difference. We know
that many IAFP Members help to
promote IAFP in their daily work
and for that we are thankful. If
your employment positions you
where you have the opportunity to
advance participation with IAFP,
we encourage you to do so. Many
times it is through peer-to-peer
communication that we find new,
active involvement with IAFP
occurs. The second reason for recapping
Maria Teresa’s promotion of
IAFP is that she is also going to
assist IAFP in organizing an IAFP
Latin American Symposium on
Food Safety for June of 2008. This
Symposium, similar to our European
Symposium on Food Safety, will
allow for professionals to gather
together under IAFP’s name to
learn from leaders in food safety,
to network with peers, and to
learn about products and services
available in their more local regions.
The Latin American Symposium on
Food Safety is being scheduled for
the São Paulo, Brazil area and will
likely be two days in length. More
information will be available in the
coming months in our publications
and at the IAFP Web site. In her travels, Maria Teresa
found there was great interest in
a Latin American Symposium and
the idea was well accepted in each
of the countries she visited. We
look forward to IAFP’s continued
international involvement through
holding symposia outside of North
America. It is an exciting time for
YOUR Association! As the world’s
food supply becomes more mobile,
moving from country to country,
IAFP and our leaders in food
safety can provide information on
protecting the world’s food supply. As we conclude for this month,
I want to summarize some of IAFP’s
international involvement. Over the
past months, we have described our
involvment in a meeting being held
September 12 and 13 in Beijing,
China (China International Food
Safety & Quality 2007). Our
European Symposium on Food
Safety will be held next month
on October 18 and 19 in Rome,
Italy. Now, we will hold a meeting
in Brazil in June of 2008 along with
a fourth European Symposium in
October or November of 2008!
These symposia are in addition to
our ongoing Annual Meeting with
IAFP 2008 to be held in Columbus,
Ohio from August 3–6, 2008. You
can easily see, IAFP is now working
to be a truly, international
association. So, thanks to Maria Teresa for her active participation in IAFP and for her efforts in promoting IAFP outside of North America. In addition, we thank all IAFP Members for your dedication to protecting the food supply and for your efforts in spreading the word about IAFP. |