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<< back to the 2004 archive listing << Food Protection Trends President's Perspective “Grow beyond your work” The great American novelist John Steinbeck wrote in his timeless book The Grapes of Wrath that “Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.” It is human nature to take pride and satisfaction in those things that are most important to us. As food safety professionals, we take pride and gain much personal satisfaction in striving to make the world a safer place in which to live. I know I do! Another great author and motivational speaker, Dale Carnegie, once said, “If your work is becoming uninteresting, so are you. Work is an inanimate thing and can be made lively and interesting only by injecting yourself into it. Your job is only as big as you are.” Striving for excellence in what we do can even make mundane work more interesting. One way to help keep our work interesting and lively is to acknowledge and recognize the contributions of our co-workers, colleagues and others in our professional field. IAFP, your professional association, for years has acknowledged the importance of peer recognition. Every year, at the IAFP Annual Meeting, we hold an Awards Banquet on Wednesday evening. The purpose of the Awards Banquet is to recognize the contributions and achievements of our professional colleagues and institutions in the area of food safety. There are thirteen awards presented at the annual Awards Banquet that cover all segments of our profession including education, industry, government, international leader-ship and more. The list of past award recipients reads like the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Each of the past award recipients exemplifies the character and determination described by Steinbeck… emerging ahead of their accomplishments; each accolade bestowed was well deserved. If you would like to learn more about the various awards please visit the IAFP Web site at www.foodprotection.org. It is worth your time to get to know these awards and their history. I would like to take this opportunity to also thank the various sponsors of our IAFP awards including Wilbur Feagan and F&H Food Equipment Comp-any, Silliker, Inc., Nasco Inter-national, Inc., Nelson-Jameson, Inc., Ecolab, Inc., Weber Scientific, Unilever SEAC, The National Food Processors Association and the IAFP Foundation Fund. Please extend your appreciation to the representatives of these organizations for their role in sponsoring specific awards at the IAFP Annual Banquet. I also want to invite each of you to attend IAFP 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona, August 8–11, to help congratulate and recognize this year’s award recipients. By celebrating these individuals and institutions and their accomplishments, I hope it would energize you to “grow beyond your work,” ultimately, “emerging ahead of your accomplishments.” Even if you are not fortunate to receive a formal award from your peers, at least you will have the self-satisfaction of doing the best you can. By doing so, you are giving yourself a fair shake and you’ll have your own place in the “Food Safety Walk of Fame!” As always, please share your thoughts with me at phall@kraft.com. Until next month… |