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<< back to the 2002 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Thoughts from the President We encourage all our Members to participate actively in IAFP As I begin my term as President of IAFP, I consider myself fortunate for being in the right place at the right time! (That doesn’t happen often!) I note that the road to the “right place” has been paved by the dedicated individuals who made our Association what it is today. The list includes those who have served on the Executive Board and have taken their turn “at the helm,” providing the leadership and guidance that helped us grow into the organization that is reflected by our name today. It also includes the many members who volunteer a piece of their most valuable commodity, time, and turn their efforts to serve on committees, organize symposia and workshops, contribute articles, and more. And at the core of our Association is our IAFP staff. They are “always there” for the Executive Board and make our jobs seem easy! The IAFP staff is “always there” for you, too. You saw that at the Annual Meeting. From the pre-planning stages through to the final “hurrah,” every one of our staff members dedicates long hours to make sure events at the meeting run smoothly. Outside of the Annual Meeting are the day-to-day responsibilities, and delivery of services to our Membership. Many of you who are actively involved with your local affiliate know that whenever and whatever you need from IAFP, it is just a phone call or an E-mail message away. This is the “right time” to continue our growth and to continue to
become truly an international association. At the Annual Meeting we recognized
two new affiliates: SCAFP, the Southern California Association for Food Protection,
and ABRAPA, Associacao Brasileira This year, we were pleased to introduce the new IAFP International Leadership Award. Professor Tom McMeekin of the University of Tasmania, Australia, is the first recipient of this award. As a teacher, a scientist and a leader, Tom is recognized for his dedication to the ideals and objectives of IAFP and for his promotion of the mission of our Association in regions outside the United States and Canada. The award, which includes travel reimbursement to attend the Annual Meeting, is one way we can recognize specifically our colleagues from abroad. We are grateful to Kraft Foods for sponsoring the IAFP International Leadership Award for this year and in 2003. In future years we will seek sponsorship from different sources. I would also like to note our Student Professional Development Group (SPDG), which has done an outstanding job in welcoming and involving students from around the world. We encourage all our Members to participate actively in IAFP, and that includes Members from any part of the globe. With E-mail and the Internet, the world has become a very small place indeed. Being actively involved on a committee or PDG is no longer hindered by delays in “snail mail” or telephone calls at odd hours of the day. To our International Members: the information you bring to our Association, as presenters at Annual Meetings, as members of committees and PDGs, or by contributing articles to our journals, broadens our scope of knowledge. The Annual Meeting in particular is a time not only to learn, but also to network and discuss potential collaborative opportunities in food safety research, management, and training. Food safety is a common thread in our global marketplace. Salmonella in San Diego, California, pretty much looks the same and acts the same as Salmonella in Korea. In this coming year, IAFP will continue to explore opportunities to support our affiliates, our Members and our colleagues in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Asia… The IAFP Foundation Fund is an important vehicle that allows us to distribute surplus copies of our journals, JFP and DFES, to food safety students and professionals in developing countries. If you came home from San Diego with an unusual item or two from the Silent Auction, perhaps the pearl necklace designed and donated by Connie Tharp (our Executive Director David’s “better half”), you helped send a box of journals to Ghana. The Foundation Fund is growing, through contributions from our Affiliates, from your support of the Silent Auction, and as a result of the corporate challenge issued earlier this year by President-Elect Paul Hall (and Kraft Foods). Personal donations by you are equally important to help support the goal of creating a self-sustaining fund of a minimum one million dollars. The fund is designated to support existing programs, and its growth will allow us to consider new initiatives to help expand our services worldwide. Concern about the deliberate contamination of our food and water supplies, the topic of our keynote address in San Diego, reaches beyond the traditional realm of food microbiologists and public health inspectors. IAFP Members strive to be on the forefront of the science and management of any threat to the food supply, at home and globally. We invite individuals who have not been part of the IAFP Membership in the past to consider joining as IAFP tackles these difficult issues. IAFP continues to grow in its scope and Membership. We embrace change as our Association moves forward to meet the challenges of a global economy. At the same time, we will continue to maintain and build on the scientific excellence of our Annual Meetings, the quality of our publications, and the support of our Membership worldwide. From a personal perspective, I think this will be another good year for IAFP! |