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<< back to the 1999 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Views From Your President, August 1999 "A look into IAMFES future" As I contemplated what I should write for this, my last column as your President, I reflected upon all the events and issues with which your Executive Board dealt in the past several years. This, of course, prompted me to also think about what the future would bring for IAMFES and how this might affect IAMFES Members. I decided that in my final column, I would discuss what I believe will be some important future changes that will affect IAMFES and its Members. This is pure speculation, so there is every chance I could be wrong. But I also might be right! Global economy and trade. There are few places in the world where the influence of global trade is not apparent in our daily lives. Products such as motor vehicles, consumer electronics, and clothing are often made in one country to be sold in another country, by companies with headquarters in still another. The same is true with foods. In recent years, the global economy has brought many new and exciting foods to areas in which they were previously not found. I believe this trend will continue and perhaps even accelerate in the near future. As people move from their native countries to settle in new ones, they will bring with them certain aspects of their culture, particularly a desire for their native cuisine. This desire will not only lead to increased demand for their unique foods in their new home, but expose their new neighbors to these foods. If past experience with ethnic foods is any indication, their new neighbors will quickly develop their own appreciation for the new foods, creating even more new demand. The end result is more importation of these unique foods. This will affect IAMFES in several ways. First, if we are to address the food safety issues associated with these new foods, we must develop or acquire the expertise to food safety unique to these products. The best source of expertise, of course, will be from new International Members in the producing countries themselves. In other words, we need to THINK globally if we are to address global issues. Communications. The rapid evolution in computing and telecommunications is having dramatic effects on the way both business and professional organizations function. The world wide web now allows us to access huge volumes of information and conduct business with vendors worldwide...instantly from your office or home. Many publications are now available entirely on line or for purchase on compact disc. This trend became apparent to the IAMFES Board and staff several years ago and led to the launching of our web page (www.iamfes. org). At that time, we anticipated that the web would be an alternate source of information for a limited number of our Members. However, both Members and non-members alike have accessed our web page far more than we ever imagined. In fact, it is quickly becoming the primary source of Association information for both Members and non-members. As telecommunications and computing improve and evolve, your Association could potentially offer even more services that were unimaginable even a few years ago. Electronic versions of our journals are only a start. How about being able to directly access the IAMFES lending library via the Internet, perhaps to use in a training session in different countries all at the same time! Of course, such possibilities will undoubtedly cost money and require lots of planning. But the time to think of how we can make such possibilities a reality is NOW. Expanded and rapid communications can also have, and is having, unforeseen consequences that will affect food safety professionals. For example, the use of the Center for Disease and Prevention's FoodNet and PulseNet efforts have allowed rapid identification of disease outbreaks that may have been completely missed only a decade ago. In fact, identification of foodborne outbreaks has become so rapid that it is beginning to outpace the industry's ability to react to the outbreak. The development of newer technology may bring even more information for us to deal with in even less time. Devices such as rapid response biosensors may eventually make it possible to immediately detect and identify pathogenic microorganisms or their toxins in foods. As such technology is developed, IAMFES will need to educate and inform its Members as to relevance of the new information generated by this technology data and how it is best used. Specialization. The trend toward more specialization started several decades ago. The most obvious place it occurred was in professional services, such as medicine and law. However, this trend is also occurring in professional societies and having some profound effects. Professional associations such as IAMFES tend to develop their own unique character and reputation. Some associations gravitate towards a focus on more basic science whereas others more toward practical application of those same sciences. This can often lead to a rivalry in which the more scientific group looks at the more practical group as "unscientific" and the practical group looks upon the scientific group as "ivory tower." The truth is, both organizations can play important roles in maintaining and improving the safety of the world's food supply and should be cooperating rather than distancing themselves from one another. I believe that as specialization increases, the most successful organizations will be those that forge alliances with those of compatible "specialties," enabling them to share resources, knowledge, and membership bases. IAMFES should lead the way in developing such alliances. Specialization is also occurring within organizations. No longer are we simply "sanitarians." The whole field of food protection has become so broad that one simply can not be an "expert" in every aspect. So, we focus on specific commodities (meat, dairy, produce), areas of study (toxicology, microbiology, HACCP), and even delivery of food safety information (adult education, mass communication). Although this allows for greater depth of expertise in the individual, it also has the potential to fragment the organization. This can result in some individuals feeling disenfranchised and ultimately leaving the Association for another more "compatible" organization, as discussed above. The challenge to future IAMFES Executive Boards and Members will be to embrace greater professional growth and specialization while at the same time maintaining the traditionally friendly and family oriented character for which we are known. Who really knows what the future will bring? But whatever it is, it is my hope and expectation that our Association will continue to be a forward-thinking group that will enable it to be the world's leader in food protection. |