The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) announced it will sponsor four new paid education programs at the 2018 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), scheduled to take place Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga.

The Preventing and Responding to Foreign Material Contamination Incidents session, scheduled from 1 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 29, will address best practices for preventing foreign material contamination and will review corrective actions. The workshop will also examine the latest forensic laboratory technologies available to aid an investigation to confirm and identify whether a product is contaminated. Case studies will help inform participants about ways to effectively communicate with customers and consumers during contamination incidents. Featured speakers include Barb Masters, Ph.D., global vice president for food safety and quality assurance, Keystone Foods; Kristen Bishir, consumer relations coordinator, Johnsonville Sausage; Mark Germani, laboratory director, MicroMaterials Research, Inc.; Jeremiah Johnson, corporate manager of regulatory compliance and food safety, Hormel Foods; Kendra Waldbusser, head of food safety and quality assurance, Pilgrim’s; and Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs, North American Meat Institute. The session costs $150 for registered IPPE attendees.        

The Operational Excellence: Engaging the Workforce to Drive Performance workshop will examine approaches to engage employees to drive organizational change through operational excellence initiatives. Specifically, attendees will learn about the important role company leaders play, the behaviors required to enable full workforce participation and the tactics necessary to overcome resistance to change when implementing successful programs to achieve operational excellence. Presenters include Donald Bowden, plant manager, Ecolab; Barb Callander, vice president, operations excellence, Six Sigma and Learning, Maple Leaf Foods; and Neil Webers, managing director Americas, member of the executive board, EFESO Consulting, Inc. The workshop, which will take place Jan. 30, from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., costs $150 for registered IPPE attendees.       

The Meat Quality Workshop: The Taste of Beef will detail the principal factors affecting beef flavor and will offer interactive sensory panel training and taste testing experiences. The session will address ways selection, processing and preparation techniques influence beef flavor and how cattle feeding, muscle selection, aging techniques and grade ultimately determine product flavor. Speakers include Chance Brooks, Ph.D., associate chair and professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University; Jerrad Legako, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Animal and Food Sciences Department, Texas Tech University; and Dale Woerner, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University. The workshop is $150 for registered IPPE attendees and will take place Jan. 31, from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.      

The Permit Required Confined Space – Train the Trainer session is a certification-based workshop that will provide safety managers, supervisors and other professionals with the information and tools they need to develop, implement and maintain an effective permit-required confined space entry program. Attendees will leave the workshop equipped with the ability to train entrants, attendants and entry supervisors. Course curriculum includes required disciplines, methodology meters, methodology retrieval systems, adult learning, preparation and delivery techniques, evaluation of effective training, identification of permit required/non permit required spaces, atmospheric hazards and ventilation. Participants also will have opportunities to discuss and analyze confined space scenarios. Upon completion, attendees will receive “OSHA 29 CFR 1910.146 Permit Required Confined Space, Train the Trainer - 16 Hour” certification from Emergency Response Specialists, Inc. Bill Dennert and Brandon Peterleus, lead confined space instructors at Emergency Response Specialists, will conduct the training. The two-day course will take place Jan. 31 – Feb. 1, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is sold out.   

For more information on any of the above sessions and to register to attend IPPE, visit www.ippexpo.org.  

Source: NAMI