The Food Safety Summit kicked off yesterday with a State of the Industry workshop with in-depth insight from Oscar Garrison, United Egg Producers Association, Jennifer McEntire Ph.D., United Fresh Produce Association, and KatieRose McCullough, PhD, MPH, North American Meat Institute, who discuss the challenges in production, worker safety, virtual audits, and the impact of the supply chain in egg, produce, and meat processing. Hundreds of food safety professionals engaged in a dynamic Q&A session moderated by Craig Henry with discussions focused on labor shortages, impact of vaccinations, and working with public health authorities. 

Following the workshop, Larry Keener, chair of Food Safety Magazine’s Award Committee, presented the magazine’s Distinguished Leadership Award to Frank Busta, Ph.D. Larry stated that “Frank had unanimous support for his personification of what it means to be a food safety scientist. He is an advocate and leader of the fundamental sciences of the basis of food safety and worthy of this prestigious award.” Dr. Busta is the director emeritus of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD; now Food Protection & Defense Institute) and professor emeritus of food microbiology at the University of Minnesota. “I am truly honored to receive this award. Thank you for this honor. My success is truly a measure of the extraordinary students and colleagues I have worked with at the University of Minnesota and a variety of others school. Without these collegial relationships and teamwork, I would not have accomplished what I did in my career,” said Busta. Click here to tune in to hear an interview with Dr. Busta on the new episode of the Food Safety Matters podcast.

Craig Wilson, Vice President, GMM, Costco presented a terrific keynote address honoring the food industry employees who were on the front line, following policies and procedures, especially during the pandemic. “Congratulations to everyone in the food supply chain for being the true heroes,” Craig said. “At Costco keeping our members and employees safe all the time is a top priority and we followed the science and the CDC guidance for keeping folks safe during the pandemic."

Stacy Atchison, publisher of Food Safety Magazine, then moderated a conversation with Craig, who answered questions from the audience on everything from reconciling conflicting information, the role OSHA is playing in food safety, dealing with the supply chain issues, keeping members and employees safe, blockchain, virtual auditing, implementing Standard Operating Procedures, the future of mask wearing, and much more.

The Summit continues on Wednesday, May 12th from 8 am–10 am CT with a two-hour workshop laying out a RoadMap to Food Safety Culture. Speakers from Sysco, Food Industry Council, Deloitte Consulting, CFSAN FDA, and Public Health Innovations will discuss creating and implementing a strong food safety culture within an organization.

From 10 am–11:30 am CT, Gary Ades will moderate the 10th annual Town Hall with two new speakers: Sherri McGarry, Health Scientist Microbiologist, CDC Liaison to FDA for Food Safety​, will open the session with a COVID update from the CDC/FDA perspective and Sandra Eskin, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, USDA, will share her perspective. In addition, Steven Mandernach, J.D., Executive Director, AFDO; Robert Tauxe, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, CDC; and Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy and Response, FDA; will provide updates from each of their organizations and will be available for an extensive question-and-answer session. 

The Exhibit Hall will be open from 12:00–2:30 pm CT and feature leading vendors including Gold Sponsor Purell; Silver Sponsors Applied Food Diagnostics, Aptean and Millipore Sigma; and Bronze Sponsors Elisa Technologies, Zenput, and Pure Global Solutions. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from technology companies in the Tech Tent and attend live sponsored education sessions on the Solutions Stage with informative presentations from Millipore Sigma, Orkin, Hexagon, Intertek Alchemy, FoodLogiQ, Mettler Toledo, Controlant, Perkin Elmer, Inficon, Beekeeper, One Event Technologies, WeRFood Safety, Safety Chain, AFCO, IFS, and others. 

For access to the full Food Safety Summit agenda, which will be held through Thursday, May 13 from 8:00 am–4:45 pm CT, visit www.foodsafetysummit.com. To register, click here. 

Source: Food Safety Summit