Plant-Based Alternative Products Quality and Food Safety Professional Development Group

Mission Statement: To provide a forum for open exchange pertaining to plant-based alternative commodities and products, specifically quality & food safety concerns and related controls on microbiological, chemical, physical, and allergen hazards. Plant-based includes not only meat/dairy/seafood alternative finished goods but also functional ingredients and cell-cultured products.

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.

Minutes

Board Responses

2024 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. 1. The PDG recommends Lily Yang as Vice Chair.

    Board Response: Board Response: Agree.

2023 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. None.
2022 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. None.

Webinars

  • Plant-Based Meat Analogues; How far of an Analogue in Microflora? Nov 1, 2023

    Organized by: IAFP's Plant-Based Alternative Products Quality and Food Safety PDG

    Plant-based meat analogues are the latest trends in replacing the meat in prepared meals and other traditional meat-based products over health, nutrition, safety, and environmental reasons. With increasing interest, it becomes important to ensure the safety of these products. A recent outbreak, sickening 470 people followed by recall in June 2022 with ground-beef substitute have proven that plant-based meat analogues also come with food safety risks. Peer reviewed comparisons of microbial spoilage of identical meals prepared with meat and meat analogues found the microbial proliferation was faster in hot meals containing meat analogue, especially if the meals were not cooled.
    Understanding microbial community and identifying spoilage flora, pathogen serotypes, and virulence genes could provide useful insights. The goal of this webinar is to describe current microbiome research projects focused on spoilage or pathogen presence and persistence in a variety of plant-based meat analogues with particular attention to microbiome transfer dynamics.

    Learning Objectives:
    1. Use of microbial community profiling in meat analogue products.
    2. Potential food safety and quality solutions in plant-based meat products.
    3. Understanding spoilage of plant-based products and how it affects food sustainability.

    Download Slides

    Presenters
    • Alejandra Ramirez, Presenter Impossible Foods
    • Nicolette Hall, Presenter Kerry
    • Joyjit Saha, Moderator Kerry