A View from Wisconsin 
August 2005

“I look forward to working with you in the future. Hope to see you in Baltimore for IAFP 2005”
By Kathleen A. Glass, IAFP President        

It is difficult to believe that it has been an entire year since Paul Hall handed me the President’s Gavel in sunny Phoenix at IAFP 2004. As I had anticipated last August, this has been a remarkable and productive year. During the past 12 months, I have been privileged to collaborate with many enthusiastic members and affiliates, Executive Board, and IAFP staff who are all committed to advance the mission of our Association. To wrap up my final month as President of our Association, I’d like to detail progress in our Strategic Plan and take a brief look forward to where our Association is headed.

International Commitment:

• IAFP is demonstrating their commitment to international members by hosting regional international meetings out-side of North America. The first “IAFP Symposium on Food Safety” will be held in Prague, The Czech Republic on October 11–12, 2005. This conference will focus on “Recontamination Issues in the Food Industry.” Conference information and registration materials are available on our Web site.

• The New Zealand Association for Food Protection will receive their charter at IAFP 2005 and will become the 10th Affiliate from outside the US.

• Two publications targeting consumer food safety have been translated in response to multilingual needs. BeforeDisaster Strikes... A Guide to Food Safety in the Home and Food Safety at Temporary Events are now available in Spanish language.

Publications:

• Accessibility to publications has been increased by adding back volumes to JFP online through1999. Full-text articles from 2001–2003 FPT are now available online to members via the IAFP Web site.

• A special report written by ILSI Europe on “Mycobacterium avium Subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) and the Food Chain” was reprint-ed in April 2005 FPT; currently, a task force is developing a review on Avian Influenza and its potential impact on the food industry.

• Ideas for applied food safety booklets will be solicited from PDGs during IAFP 2005; topics will be approved by the Executive Board to initiate work by the end of 2005.

Affiliates:

• Affiliates play a major role in advancing our Association’s mission by providing educational programs that focus on the needs of local food safety professionals. Communication with Affiliate organizations is increasing and IAFP is being promoted at Affiliate meetings.

• Executive Board members were invited to be speakers by 17 Affiliates since May 2004 and Board members are scheduled to attend an additional five meetings this fall.

• IAFP Staff is currently evaluating the financial impact of a dues restructure to make IAFP Membership more affordable and to attract Affiliate members to become IAFP Members.

Outreach and Education:

• Travel grants were established to fund two students to attend IAFP 2005, one from Canada/US and other from outside this region. Next year will include an additional grant for a student from Canada/US and one that specifically targets a student from a developing country in Latin America, Africa or Asia, bringing the total travel grants for IAFP 2006 to
four. Grant program will continue to expand as support from the IAFP Foundation increases.

• Procedure is being developed to host mid-year briefings that address critical food safety issues. Members of the Rapid Response Special Committee are alert to emerging issues and will
work with government and industry partners to convene special meetings as the need arises.

• Recognition of IAFP among students and food science faculty is being promoted by expanding our Executive Board Speaker Program to universities. Through this program, faculty can invite Executive Board members to deliver guest lectures to food science or food microbiology classes, seminars, or clubs. The first lecture was delivered in spring 2005 with a second scheduled for fall 2005.

Foundation Fund:

• The goal is to increase the Foundation Fund to $1 million by 2010. The Vision of the Foundation is to promote food safety around the world by supporting future food safety pro-fessionals and deserving scientists from developing countries through scholarships or travel grants to attend IAFP Annual Meetings, sponsoring international workshops, as well as cont-inued funding for the Audiovisual Library, Ivan Parkin Lecture, Developing Scientist Award, speaker travel, and shipment of journals to developing countries.

• Kraft Foods demonstrated that they share in the Vision of the Fund by providing corporate contributions of $25,000 and $50,000, increasing the current balance to approximately $300,000.

• Donating to the Foundation Fund was made easier for individual members by adding a line item to the membership renewal form. Approximately 10% of our members have used this opportunity so far to contribute amounts ranging from $10 to $1,000.

• Foundation Fund Committee is currently developing promotional materials for a major fund raising campaign to be launched in 2006.

In addition, we have made progress in other areas. The IAFP Web site has been redesigned for
a fresh look. A new Food Safety Innovation Award was established. Individual membership has increased 3% over the past year. The number of Sustaining Members has increased from 67 (including 2 Gold and 7 Silver) in January 2004 to 79 (including 4 Gold and 9 Silver) in June 2005. In 2004, we once again broke an Annual Meeting attendance record with 1,584 registrants and expect to exceed that number for IAFP 2005. Successful meetings and an increase in memberships have translated into achieving a positive general fund balance for the second consecutive year (compared with a negative balance for the preceding decade). Lastly, a new Professional Development Group focusing on Food Toxicology and Food Allergens was formed to provide a venue for members to discuss non-micro-biology food safety issues.

The late Vince Lombardi, football coach of the Green Bay (Wisconsin) Packers said, Individual commitment to a group effort… that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. And it is the individual commitment to IAFP by our Members, Staff, and Executive Board that makes our Association work and is responsible for an extremely successful year. The future of IAFP continues to be bright as I pass the gavel to Jeff Farber, President of our Association for the next year, and as the leadership subsequently passes to Frank Yiannas, Gary Acuff, and Stan Bailey, who are equally committed to IAFP.

As I close, I want to thank Paul Hall, Past President, and Affiliate Council Chair Stephanie Olmsted for their service, as well as all the Board members who preceded me and laid the foundation of this successful organization. My deepest gratitude goes to the entire IAFP staff, David, Lisa, Bev, Julie, Donna, Pam, Donna G., Didi, Farrah, Karla, and Nancy, for their dedication, professionalism, and assistance throughout the year. Finally, thank you for your support, your input, and enthusiasm this year. I look forward to working with you in the future. Hope to see you in Baltimore for IAFP 2005. As always, I welcome your comments and ideas. Please feel free to E-mail me at kglass@wisc.edu and let me know your view.