Sanitary Equipment and Facility Design Professional Development Group

Mission Statement: To serve as a forum for the advancement of hygienic design and construction of food processing equipment and facilities.

Meeting Information

Virtual: TBD throughout the year as needed

In Person: IAFP 2025

                   07/27/2025 — 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

                   Room 10

                   July 27, 2025, Huntington Convention Center, Cleveland, Ohio

A full listing of PDG and Committee Meetings can be found here:

https://www.foodprotection.org/annualmeeting/programs-and-activities/committee-meetings/

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. None.
2023 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. Recommend to approve the appointment of Jason White to the position of Vice Chairperson.

    Board Response: Approved.

2022 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. Attendees are having difficulty participating in desired PDGs because of the recent additions to the number of PDGs. This PDG recommends the board review means to alleviate these scheduling difficulties through either consolidation of some PDGs or recording live PDGs at the Annual Meeting for membership review.

    Board Response: PDGs may suggest merging or combining of PDGs to reduce the overall number of PDGs. You may also “self-record” your PDG meeting and post it to IAFP Connect for Members’ access.

  2. There was a recommendation to establish a secretary position for the Sanitary Equipment and Facility Design PDG and begin the process of collecting nominees. This group would vote on the candidates at a future PDG meeting. Board response:

    Board Response: PDGs may establish a secretary position, if desired.

2021 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. 1. Recommend approval of Dimitri Tavernarakis as Vice Chairperson of this PDG.

    Board Response: Agree.

2020 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. None
2019 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. The Sanitary Equipment and Facility Design PDG recommends the Executive Board recognize the election of Rick Stokes as Vice Chair starting at IAFP 2020.

    Board Response: Agree.

  2. The PDG recommends the Executive Board extend John Merenick as Chairperson until just prior to IAFP 2021.

    Board Response: Agree.

  3. Review scheduling of PDG meetings for 2020 Annual Meeting. Many conflicts in 1:00 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. time slots if members want to attend similar PDG meetings.

    Board Response: Agree. The Committee and PDG schedule will be revised for IAFP 2020.

2018 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. Recommend approval of Dimitri Tavernarkis as Vice Chair.

    Board Response: Agree.

2017 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. Request approval of Dimitri Tavernarakis as Vice Chair to begin serving at IAFP 2018.

    Board Response: Agree

2016 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. PDG would like guidance on how IAFP can bring equipment design concepts globally throughout the world. Different guidance documents for different areas of the world.

    Board Response: PDG members can consider writing a general interest article on equipment design for publication in FPT or a review paper for JFP.

  2. Approval of John Merenick as Vice Chair.

    Board Response: Agree.

2015 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. The Sanitary Equipment and Facility Design PDG recommends the Executive Board recognize the election of Edyta Margas as Vice-Chair.

    Board Response: Approve.

2014 Board Response to Recommendations
  1. Because of considerable overlap in membership, please do not schedule the meeting of the Sanitary Equipment and Facility Design PDG at the same time as the Dairy Quality and Safety PDG, or the Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG at the 2015 IAFP Conference.

    Board Response: Efforts will be made to accommodate these requests.

Webinars

  • 7-Steps of Sanitation (Spanish) Jun 23, 2022

    Organized by the Sanitary Equipment and Facility Design PDG

    During this webinar, you will learn about the 7-step sanitation process used in the food industry to ensure effective sanitation. The steps of the process are explained by experts in the field of sanitation. The purpose of each step and key concepts will be discussed with emphasis on optimizing efficiency and consistency of outcome. Details about various cleaning methods including when and how to use them are also shared with participants. The latest automated and manual cleaning methods for wet and dry plants will be compared and described on how and when to use each method. The session concludes with examples from the field and a question-and-answer exchange with our experts.

    Learning Objectives:
    • Provide Spanish-speaking attendees an understanding of the optimal sequence of events in sanitation to generate a clean and safe surface in an efficient manner.
    • Gain the ability to identify differences in wet and dry sanitation procedures and their influence on the selection of sanitation tools.
    • Describe how cleaning and disinfection are different and when to apply each method.

    Presenters
    • Alejandro Rojas, Presenter Ecolab
    • Charles Giambrone, Presenter Rochester Midland Corporation
    • Ileana Richards, Presenter Ecolab
    • Rick Stokes, Moderator Ecolab