Beverages and Acid/Acidified Foods Professional Development Group
Mission Statement: To provide a forum to discuss and develop symposia on issues facing the beverages and acid/acidified foods industry.
Meeting Information
Virtual: TBD
In Person: IAFP 2025
July 27, 2025, Huntington Convention Center, Cleveland, Ohio
How to Join
Involvement in committees and professional development groups (PDGs) offers Members the opportunity to share a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Members of committees and PDGs are the architects of the Association structure. They plan, develop and institute many of the Association's projects, including workshops, publications and educational sessions. Technical challenges facing the food safety industry are discussed, examined and debated. Members may volunteer to serve on any number of committees or PDGs that plan and implement activities to meet the Association's mission.
Membership on a PDG is voluntary (not by appointment) and may vary from year to year.
IAFP Members can manage their PDG involvement by logging in to the IAFP Web site. At the Member Dashboard, click “Edit Profile.” Your profile has two tabs: Contact Info and Professional Info. Select the Professional Info tab and update the PDGs you would like to participate in. We highly recommend that you contact the PDG chairperson for each group to let them know you have joined their PDG.
Non-members can contact Dina Siedenburg, dsiedenburg@foodprotection.org, for more information.
Review the mission statement for Beverages and Acid/Acidified Foods PDG to define the scope of products included in this PDG.
Board Response: The PDG may submit changes to your mission statement for the Board’s review and approval.
2021 Board Response to Recommendations
None
2020 Board Response to Recommendations
Recommend approval of April Bishop as Vice Chair of the PDG beginning at IAFP 2021 as elected by the PDG.
Board Response: Agree.
2019 Board Response to Recommendations
None
2018 Board Response to Recommendations
We recommend better AV support prior/during the PDG
meetings.
Board Response: Agree. Additional audiovisual technicians will be used.
Approve election of May Yeow as Vice Chair-Elect; to begin
her term as Vice Chair in 2019.
Board Response: Agree.
2017 Board Response to Recommendations
The Board should instruct the Program Committee to prioritize PDG program ideas when developing the Annual Meeting program.
Board Response: The Program Committee selects the best developed symposium submissions whether from PDGs or outside sources.
PDGs should be alerted when a program idea is submitted by an individual or group (outside of the PDG) that would benefit from PDG affiliation/support.
Board Response: With 27 PDGs and topic overlap, this is a near impossible feat.
The Annual Meeting program (printed and online) should include sponsoring PDGs.The program App should be searchable to include PDG sponsored programs, i.e., you can search to find all programs sponsored by the Beverages and Acid/Acidified foods PDG.
Board Response: Agree, staff will look into making the necessary changes.
PDG Chairs and Vice Chairs should be informed as to the fate of suggested programs; currently this information is only sent to the conveners who may, or may not, inform the PDG Chairs and Vice Chairs.
Board Response: Chairs and Vice Chairs are encouraged to follow up with the submitters of session proposals to determine whether the submission was accepted or not.
2016 Board Response to Recommendations
Dr. Barbara Ingham was unanimously elected vice-chair to begin serving at IAFP 2017, subject to approval by the IAFP Board.
Board Response: Agree.
PDG affiliations should be included with the information in the program about each symposium. It was also recommended that on the IAFP app symposia be searchable by PDG affiliation.
Board Response: Staff will work to implement these ideas for 2017.
2015 Board Response to Recommendations
We recommend Wilfredo Ocasio be confirmed by the board as Vice-Chair of the Beverage and Acid/Acidified Foods PDG.
Board Response: Approved.
Webinars
How Can We Effectively Reuse Water End-To-End: Creating Equitable FutureJun 17, 2024
Organized by: Beverages and Acid/Acidified Foods PDG
Water supplies are coming under increasing pressure as climate change and pollution growth affect water supplies.
Water reuse is a process to treat and reuse water as potable and non-potable water supplies. Reuse water can provide alternative supplies to enhance water security, sustainability, and resilience.
Bacterial and viral pathogens, chemical contaminants such as nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, pharmaceuticals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, cleaning and disinfecting chemicals, metals, salts, byproducts formed during processing, and mineral oils are commonly found in wastewater.
Our panel of leaders will discuss how water reuse can be a critical tool in promoting sustainability and water security. The panel will provide insights on the current regulatory landscape, microbiological and chemical hazards, risk mitigation, information and experiences in water treatment programs, targeted and non-targeted compounds in treated water for validation and verification of safety of reuse water.
Learning Objectives: Bacterial and chemical contaminants found in waste water, risk associated with reuse water as an ingredient or potable water, and mitigation technologies will be discussed.
Recommendations for Designing and Conducting Cold-Fill- Hold Challenge Studies for Acidified FoodsJun 13, 2018
Sponsored by the University of Wisconsin and IAFP's Beverages and Acid/Acidified Foods Professional Development Group
Safe manufacture of acidified canned foods requires a minimum 5-log reduction in the target pathogen to ensure that public health is protected and to meet FDA guidelines for manufactured foods.
Overview:
This 1-hour webinar will provide an overview of factors to consider when designing and conducting microbial challenge studies to validate a 5-log pathogen inactivation for COLD-FILL HOLD shelf-stable acidified foods in hermetically sealed containers. The research basis for these proposed components for challenge studies will be reviewed. Procedures for challenge testing such as selection of bacteria and strains, inoculation levels, pH and environmental controls, and data points needed for a killing curve will be discussed. Suggestions components for the Challenge Study Report to be submitted to FDA will also be presented. Questions will be addressed at the end of the presentation.
Who Will Benefit:
Thermal processing specialists/authorities
University food science and food microbiology faculty, especially those serving as process authorities
