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<< back to the 1999 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Quotations From Jack, November 1999 The future looks very bright for the International Association for Food
Protection If you have not already heard the news, the voting Membership overwhelmingly approved our new Constitution and Bylaws and our new name! The International Association for Food Protection name will be phased in over the next few months, with January 1, 2000 as our official date for the change. The change is intended to reflect the focus of the Members and identify the Association easily. The International Association for Food Protection's mission will remain "to provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply." Peter Hibbard, IAMFES Teller Pro tem, reported the following voting results on accepting the amended and restated Constitution: number of ballots cast 1,118; number necessary for acceptance (2/3 of valid votes) 744; number voting yes 1,049; number voting no 67; and invalid votes 2. In other words, 94% of the voting Members voted approval of the changes. By accepting the Constitution and Bylaws the Members were also approving the name change. The process began early in 1997 to solicit suggestions for a new Association name that would fit with the mission and the Members' interest. The proposed name was brought to the attention of attendees at both the 1997 and 1998 Annual Meetings. On August 3, 1999 at the IAMFES Annual Business Meeting in Dearborn, Michigan, IAMFES Members voted to accept the amended and restated Constitution, which allowed for the change. Ballots were then sent to the full Membership for approval and were returned by September 30, 1999. The ballot count was conducted on October 5, 1999. I would like to thank the Members of the Executive Board past and present, (Jenny Scott, James Dickson, Anna Lammerding, Robert Brackett, Randy Daggs, Gale Prince, Michael Brodsky, Ann Draughon, Beth Johnson, Lawrence Roth, and John Bruhn) along with Members of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee (Michael Brodsky, Chairperson; Ron Case, Charles Price, and Robert Sanders) and the Tellers Committee (Dee Clingman, Teller Chairperson; Peter Hibbard, Teller Pro tem Chairperson; John Chrisman, Isa Hammad, and Jose Herrera) who worked to make these changes possible. Also I would like to thank the many Association Members who personally expressed their support for the changes to Members of the Executive Board, our staff in Des Moines or myself. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank David Tharp, our Executive Director, and the staff in Des Moines (Lisa Hovey, Donna Bahun, Julie Cattanach, Lucia Collison, Bev Corron, Karla Jordan, Beth Miller, Pam Wanninger, Tanya Wheeler, and Frank Zuehlke) for their many long hours of work on this project. Without all of you, these changes would not have become a reality. The future looks very bright for The International Association for Food Protection as we enter the new millennium. Not only do we have a new name, we have growing attendance at our Annual Meeting, growing numbers of manuscripts being submitted for publication in our journals, growing interest in establishing additional international affiliates, and growing Membership. We are building on a the leader in addressing microbial food safety issues in all foods. Our organization is unique in bringing together food protection professionals from industry, academia and government in a forum to solid organization that has grown from one that focused exclusively on milk safety issues to one that is exchange the latest research and applied scient-ific information on protecting the food supply. It is an exciting time to be working in the field of food protection and an exciting time to be a Member of the International Association for Food Protection. I encourage you to invite your colleagues that are not already Members to join us in what promises to be a time of continued challenges and opportunities. |