Webinar Archive

Active IAFP Members can use our search below to find past webinars held by IAFP and IAFP’s Professional Development Groups (PDGs). Please note that all opinions and statements are those of the individual making the presentations and not necessarily the opinion or view of IAFP.

Webinar Access

You must have an active IAFP Membership to play the archived webinars in this section.

Archived Webinars

  • Attain Better Culture: Food Safety Culture PDG Toolkit Launch

    Organized by: IAFP's Food Safety Culture PDG

    Culture comes from the beginning of civilization which defines who we are as humans and where we are from. Food Safety culture has always been part of the industry but the importance and the impact of culture and behaviors driving food safety incidents and the science behind it has gained more momentum in recent years.

    Food safety professionals are actively seeking ways to enhance and foster a positive food safety culture within their organization or facility. The Attain Better Culture (ABC) Toolkit stands out as a resource that provides food safety professionals with the essential aspects of improving food safety culture within their area of focus. It includes information from government, academia, and industry resources that define, map, and discuss food safety culture. The IAFP Food Safety Culture PDG has curated a reference document with many of these resources within the A.B.C. Toolkit.

    Join us to dive deeper into the A.B.C. Toolkit and learn how we plan on expanding it in 2025 and beyond!

    Presenters
    • Melody Ge Treehouse Foods and Chair of the Food Safety Culture PDG
    • Tia Glave Catalyst, LLC and Vice Chair of the Food Safety Culture PDG
  • Modernizing the Ways of Traditional Smoking: Application of Liquid and Dry Smoke in Meat, Poultry and Pet Foods

    Organized by: IAFP's Meat and Poultry Quality and Safety PDG and Animal and Pet Food Safety PDG

    Smoking of poultry, fish and red meat has been increasing in popularity. Liquid smoke is obtained by condensing wood smoke from combustion of hardwood. While traditional smoking of foods like meat produces harmful heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, manufacturers purify liquid smoke via filtration resulting in a safe and natural food additive with antimicrobial, antioxidant, and flavor characteristics. The first presentation will discuss the background of liquid smoke as well as regulations pertaining to its commercial application in meat and poultry products. The next presentation will explore the role of designer smokes and multifunctional smoke systems for antimicrobial and antioxidant properties in food applications. The final presentation will cover some additional applications of liquid smoke in the mitigation of mold and mites in pet foods.

    Learning Objectives:
    -Learn about potential application of liquid smoke to meat and pet food products in preventing and inhibiting the growth and survival of foodborne pathogens and enhance overall food safety and shelf life.
    -Learn about multifaceted role of liquid smoke as an all-in-one additive to enhance food safety, sensory properties, and promote health with intrinsic antioxidants.
    -Learn about the dominance of liquid smoke over traditional smoking based on in its diverse applications, product uniformity, reproducibility in favorable sensory qualities, and in the fusion of environmental consciousness with effective functional properties.
    -Learn about liquid composition; carboxylic acids, carbonyls, and phenolic compounds, which act synergistically to impede microbial growth.

    Presenters
    • Joshua Gurtler, Presenter USDA-ARS
    • Aiswariya Deliephan, Presenter Kraft Heinz
    • Surabhi Wason, Presenter Kerry
    • Saurabh Kumar, Moderator Kerry
  • Enhancing Pet Food Safety from Farm to Fork

    Organized by: Arkansas Association for Food Protection

    Join us for an insightful webinar exploring critical aspects of pet food safety, featuring industry experts discussing traceability, interventions for raw pet food, biofilm management, and regulatory impacts. This webinar provides a summary of the pet food safety session from the Arkansas Association for Food Protection 15th Annual Meeting. We will kick off the session with a talk on traceability within the pet food sector (Billie Johnson), followed by talks on interventions for raw pet food (Susy Tejayad) and preventing dry surface biofilms in the pet food processing environment (Michele Sayles). The session will end with a talk on impacts of regulations and customers on pet food safety (Jarrod Kersey), followed by brief Q&A.

    Learning Objectives:
    1) Understand the complexity of the supply chain and traceability solutions for pet food.
    2) Gain insight into processing techniques, such as high-pressure processing, to enhance the safety of raw pet foods.
    3) Examine different risks in pet food processing to prevent pathogen harborage.
    4) Learn how pet food safety and trends are impacted by regulations and customer expectations.

    Presenters
    • Billie Johnson, Presenter BHJ North America
    • Jarrod Kersey, Presenter Simmons Foods
    • Michele Sayles, Presenter Diamond Pet Food
    • Susy Tejayadi, Presenter
    • Jennifer Acuff, Moderator University of Arkansas, AAFP Past President
  • Prioritizing Hazards in Infant Foods

    Organized by: Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG & International Food Protection Issues PDG

    The webinar will address how food producers can prioritize hazards and rank risks in infant foods that differ in ingredients, process treatment and storage conditions. In addition, the consumer perception of risks associated with infant foods will be compared with experts’ opinion and outputs of science-based risks assessments. This webinar has been developed in the framework of the European project SAFFI. SAFFI aims at developing an integrated approach to enhance the identification, assessment, detection and mitigation of safety risks raised by microbial and chemical hazards along infant food chains.

    Learning Objectives:
    By attending this webinar, the participants will
    -be introduced to online available tools to identify microbial hazards and rank risks.
    -learn how different microorganisms can be grouped with respect to their resistance
    -understand how consumer perception differs from science-based risks assessment and experts’ opinions.

    Presenters
    • Kah Yen Claire Yeak, Presenter Wageningen University (NL)
    • Cristina Serra, Presenter Wageningen University (NL), IRTA (Spain)
    • Jeanne-Marie Membré, Presenter INRAE (France)
    • Marcel Zwietering, Moderator Wageningen University
  • Food Safety Culture PDG: Measure What You Treasure – The power of qualitative culture assessments.

    Organized by: Food Safety Culture PDG

    John Boyce: Using Frontline Focus Groups, Management Interviews, Document Review, and In-plant Observations to Measure and Improve Food Safety Culture in Food Manufacturing Environments.

    Paola Lopez: Conscious Leadership: Why Qualitative Approaches are Important.

    Sophie Tongyu Wu: Helping Middle Managers Make Sense of and Give Meaning to Food Safety Changes: A Qualitative Systematic Literature Review.

    Moderator, Melody Ge, Food Safety Culture PDG Chair

    Presenters
  • How Can We Effectively Reuse Water End-To-End: Creating Equitable Future

    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.

    Presenters
    • Anett Winkler, Presenter Cargill
    • Walter Brandl, Presenter Merieux NutriSciences
    • Theresa Mazure, Presenter PepsiCo
    • Yuqian Lou, Presenter PepsiCo
    • Erdogan Ceylan, Moderator Merieux NutriSciences
  • Root Cause Analysis: Adopting Standard Practices for the Food Industry

    Revolutionary inventor Sakichi Toyoda pioneered the concept of root cause analysis (RCA) by simply asking “why?”, and then asking it again and again. This “5 Whys” concept was first applied in the 1950s by the company that Mr. Toyoda founded: Toyota Motor Corporation. Since then, a variety of RCA techniques have been developed, standardized, and applied across the manufacturing, aviation, and healthcare sectors. In 2020, the FDA launched their “New Era of Smarter Food Safety” initiative which highlighted RCA as an important tool to prevent foodborne illness.
    The symposium starts with a basic introduction to the principles and practices of RCA. Next, current RCA practices in the food industry are explored with the results of an FDA-funded benchmark analysis, followed by a presentation on the implementation of RCA directly from a major food manufacturer. The symposium will conclude with an FDA review of the agency’s current efforts to standardize and invigorate RCA.

    Learning Objectives:
    By attending this webinar, participants will
    •Develop a general understanding of RCA.
    •A specific understanding of how RCA can, is, and will be applied to food safety.
    •Learn about FDA’s current and future plans for RCA in the regulated industry.

    Presenters
    • Mark Moorman, Presenter FDA
    • Tim King, Presenter Quality Matters, LLC
    • Karen Krueger, Presenter Kraft-Heinz
    • Vernon Guthrie, Presenter ABS Group
    • John Sheehan, Moderator FDA
  • Regulatory System Summary Project - Canada and Chile

    Organized by: IAFP's International Food Protection Issues Professional Development Group

    The International Food Protection Issues and Food Law Professional Development Groups (PDGs) initiated a project to create short summaries of the
    regulatory systems of select countries. These Regulatory System Summaries (RSS) were created to provide IAFP members with easy, short reads
    of the key components of country regulatory systems. A small working group within these PDGs has been focused on the creation of these RSSs for key
    countries that were determined by surveying members within these two PDGs.

    Please join this webinar to learn about:

    • How this project got started, how these RSSs may be of use to you, and what is the project plan forward
    • Overviews of the first completed RSSs for Canada and Chile
    • How you can become involved

    Presenters
    • Constanza Vergara Escobar, Presenter Trade Regulatory Affairs Division from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile
    • Jeff Farber, Presenter Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
    • DeAnn Benesh, Moderator Former Global Scientific Affairs Manager at 3M and Neogen
  • Impact of Water Use and Reuse in Food Production and Processing on Food Safety at the Consumer Phase: Focus on the Dairy Products Sector

    Organized by: Water Safety and Quality PDG, International Food Protection Issues PDG and Dairy Quality and Safety PDG

    Part Three: Water is essential for the production, handling and processing of dairy products. Consumer safety can be affected by physical, chemical and microbiological hazards introduced into food products through water (re)use. Hazards and hazardous events need to be continuously monitored and may require targeted interventions to reduce consumer risks to acceptable levels.

    The background to this webinar is the work of Codex Alimentarius on risk management guidance for water (re)use in the production, handling and processing of food commodities. Codex has asked the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meeting in Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) for advice on this.

    JEMRA established a science- and risk-based framework on fit-for-purpose water (re)use as input to the Codex work. JEMRA experts have discussed the principles of this framework and the underlying scientific and technical principles. Case studies will be provide demonstrating how practical interventions can mitigate product safety risks to consumers in the case of milk and milk products.

    Learning Objectives:

    The participants will learn about the following aspects of water (re)use in the dairy products sector:
    •The efforts of JEMRA and Codex Alimentarius to develop a risk- and science-based framework for managing the safe use and reuse of water in the production, handling and processing of dairy products by following a "fit-for-purpose" approach.
    •The microbiological hazards potentially associated with water (re)use in this sector and interventions to mitigate food safety risks at the consumer stage.
    •Practical examples and case studies regarding current water (re)use in the dairy products sector.

    Presenters
    • Kang Zhou, Presenter FAO, Rome, Italy
    • Claus Heggum, Presenter International Dairy Federation, Denmark
    • Leon Gorris, Panelist & Moderator Food Safety Futures, The Netherlands
  • Bridging Cybersecurity and Food Protection: A Multidisciplinary Approach

    In the face of a rapidly evolving digital world, the fusion of cybersecurity and food protection has become crucial. This targeted webinar for food protection professionals will distill the complexities of digital and cyber-physical integration into actionable insights. Join industry-leading experts as they map the transformed landscape of food protection threats and fortify your strategies with cutting-edge cybersecurity knowledge. Together, we'll forge the path forward, integrating cybersecurity into the heart of food protection, a vital move to defend our food supply. Engage with us to stay ahead in ensuring the integrity and safety of the food industry.
    Learning Objectives
    1. Understand the Intersection: Participants will learn how digitalization in the food sector necessitates a cybersecurity-focused approach to food protection, highlighting the interconnected risks to food safety and cybersecurity.
    2. Identify Challenges and Solutions: Attendees will learn about the specific challenges posed by the cyber-physical nature of food protection and explore practical strategies for integrating cybersecurity measures into food safety practices.
    3. Foster Collaboration: The session aims to encourage a partnership between food protection and cybersecurity professionals, emphasizing the importance of a multidisciplinary strategy to safeguard the food supply chain.

    Presenters
    • April Bishop, Panelist FSQ Consultant
    • Kristin Demoranville, Panelist AnzenSage
    • Tammie Van Buren, Panelist SQFI
    • Neil Coole, Moderator BSI Group
  • Lessons Learned When Employees Work Sick

    This webinar will address the critical issue of employees working while sick in the retail and food service industry. Our expert panel will analyze the multifaceted impacts of employees working sick on businesses. Our aim is to shed light on the underlying reasons employees choose to work while unwell, explore best practices for effectively managing employee sick calls, and delve into crucial steps for a plan to address ill employees. Our discussion will highlight the legal risks associated with permitting sick employees to work and draw insights from our experts on lessons learned during their experiences with ill employees. By examining these critical aspects from clinical, operational, regulatory, and legal perspectives, attendees will gain actionable strategies to mitigate risks and foster a healthier, more resilient workplace environment while building a food safety culture that entrusts employees with responsibility for not working when sick.

    Learning Objectives:
    Understand the underlying reasons employees choose to work while unwell
    Learn best practices for effectively managing employee sick calls
    Understand the crucial steps that are part of a plan to address ill employees

    Presenters
    • Kerry Bridges, Presenter Chipotle
    • Eric Martin, Presenter Texas Roadhouse
    • Shawn K. Stevens, Presenter Food Industry Counsel, LLC
    • Paula Herald, Co-Moderator Steritech
    • Roslyn Stone, Co-Moderator Zero Hour Health
  • Food Safety Culture PDG: Food Safety Culture – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

    Organized by: Food Safety Culture PDG

    It has been over 30 years since the awareness of food safety was raised officially. Throughout the journey, we have made many achievements such as the regulatory awareness of E. Coli, Listeria spp. and Salmonella contaminations; implementation of FSMA and many others. In 2020, Food Safety Culture was mandated by GFSI; at the same year, Smarter Food Safety Era was launched by FDA. Certainly, we have come a long way on this journey. How did we do compare to 30 years ago? What can we do to continue driving the food safety culture? Technology is evolving, environment is changing, what will we stand and focus regarding food safety? Culture is a collaboration, it takes a joint effort among government, auditors, agencies, labs, logistics, manufacturers and many others who are in the food industry or provide services to the food industry. In this webinar, we have invited an expert, Jorge Hernandez, who has worked in different cultures, stakeholders during different period of times. Let’s have a discussion together on the past, present and future of food safety culture!

    Jorge Hernandez is the Vice President of Quality Assurance for the Wendy’s Company. As such, he is responsible for the design, implementation and leadership of the Food Safety, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance Programs that impact suppliers, distribution centers and 7250 restaurants in 33 Countries.

    Presenters
    • Jorge Hernandez, Presenter Wendy's
    • Melody Ge, Moderator Starkist
  • From Farm to Fork: Ranking Food Safety Priorities in the Fresh Produce Industry

    Organized by: IAFP's: Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality PDG

    A broad understanding of food safety priorities in the fresh produce supply chain is essential to improve food safety knowledge and practices effectively and efficiently throughout the fresh produce industry. The goal of this study was to identify and rank community produce safety priorities in the United States. Survey questions were designed and approved by food safety experts for participants to rank 24 fresh produce safety priorities. The anonymous survey was distributed online via Qualtrics™ to fresh produce community members from November 2020 to May 2021. A total of 281 respondents represented fourteen different roles in the fresh produce industry, with most identified as growers (39.5%). These findings provide insight into community member priorities in fresh produce safety and can be used to inform intervention efforts, ranging from specialized training for produce growers and packers, industry-driven research projects, and gaps in risk communication strategies.

    Learning Objectives:
    1. Describe the food safety priorities of fresh produce commodity members.
    2. Identify emerging concerns in the fresh produce supply chain landscape.

    Presenters
    • Bashiru Charles Bakin, Presenter Ohio State University, Ph. D. Student
    • Alexis Hamilton, Presenter Virginia Tech, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
    • Kristin Esch, Moderator FDA and Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality Chair
  • Impact of Water Use and Reuse in Food Production and Processing on Food Safety at the Consumer Phase: Focus on the Fish and Fishery Products Sector

    Organized by: IAFP's Water Safety and Quality PDG; International Food Protection Issues PDG ; Seafood Safety and Quality PDG

    Clean water is essential to maintain the safety and quality of fish and fishery products. Product safety can be affected by physical, chemical and microbiological hazards introduced through water (re)use during production, handling and processing. Hazards and hazardous events need to be continuously monitored and may require targeted interventions to reduce consumer risks to acceptable levels.

    The background to this webinar is the work of Codex Alimentarius on risk management guidance for water (re)use in the production, handling and processing of food commodities. Codex asked the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meeting in Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) advice on this. JEMRA established a science- and risk-based framework on fit-for-purpose water (re)use as input to the Codex work.

    JEMRA experts will discuss the principles of this framework and case studies demonstrating how practical pre- and post-harvest interventions can mitigate product safety risks to consumers in the case of fish and fishery products.

    Learning Objectives:

    The participants will learn about the following aspects of water (re)use in the fish and fishery products sector:
    The efforts of JEMRA and Codex to develop a risk- and science-based framework to manage the safe use and reuse of water in the production, handling and processing of fish and fishery products by following a "fit-for-purpose" approach.
    The microbiological hazards potentially associated with water (re)use in production, handling and processing, and interventions that may help mitigate food safety risks at the consumer stage.
    Case-studies from the JEMRA report that illustrate practical examples of current water (re)use in the fish and fishery products sector in different parts of the world.

    Presenters
    • Kang Zhou, Presenter FAO, Rome, Italy
    • Yulie Meneses, Presenter Cornell University
    • Carlos Campos, Presenter Jacobs
    • Leon Gorris, Moderator
  • Food Safety Culture PDG: Improving Food Safety Culture Through Soft Skills & Communication

    Organized by: Food Safety Culture PDG

    Explore how prioritizing soft skills and strengthening communication can help improve your food safety culture.

    Presenters
    • Austin Welch, Presenter Co-Owner, Sage Media
    • Jill Stuber, Presenter Co-Founder, Catalyst LLC
    • Nikita Jackson, Presenter Food Safety & Technical Services Manager
    • Tia Glave, Moderator Co-Founder, Catalyst LLC
  • Building a Culture – The Tools and Tips You Need to Succeed

    Organized by: IAFP's Food Safety Culture PDG

    Are you looking for direction on food safety culture?

    Where do you start on ensuring you have the knowledge and tools to build a strong culture within your organization, that prioritizes food safety? There is good news – the tools are freely available, and there are a lot of resources to help you! Our panel has come together to give you a heads-up on what culture is, and what it isn’t, where the tools are, and some simple tips to get you started.

    Join the experts for a lively discussion and be ready to pitch in with questions! Your views will help us shape up and give you the best advice.

    Presenters
    • Lone Jespersen, Panelist Principal, Cultivate SA
    • Dan Fone, Panelist Group Director – US Operations Food Safety
    • Tia Glave, Panelist Co-Founder, Food Safety Catalyst
    • Alison Cousins, Panelist Global Food Training Director, BSI
    • Melody Ge, Moderator Food Safety & Quality Assurance Director, StarKist
  • Impact of Water Use and Reuse in Food Production and Processing on Food Safety at the Consumer Phase: Focus on the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Products Sector

    Organized by: Water Safety and Quality PDG, International Food Protection Issues PDG, Fruits and Vegetables Safety Quality PDG

    Webinar Abstract:

    The use of clean water in growing, handling and processing of fruits and vegetables is essential to achieve consumer safe food products.

    Various types of hazards are potentially introduced through water use and reuse. These need to be identified and, where necessary, risks at the consumer phase have to be reduced to acceptable levels through adequate treatment/technical intervention.

    Codex Alimentarius is developing risk management guidance related to use and reuse of water in production and processing for different food product sectors. The Joint Expert Meeting in Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA), working under auspices of FAO and WHO, provides input into this.

    The JEMRA report for fresh fruits and vegetables has been published. It proposes a new framework for science- and risk-based decision-making on fit-for-purpose water use and reuse. The use of the framework is illustrated with practical pre- and postharvest interventions to mitigate food safety risks at the consumer phase.

    Learning Objectives:

    The participants will learn about the following aspects of water reuse in the fruits and vegetables sector:

    The efforts of JEMRA and Codex to develop a risk- and science-based framework to manage the safe use and reuse of water in the production and processing of fresh fruits and vegetables following a "fit-for-purpose" approach.

    The microbiological hazards potentially associated with water (re-)use in production and processing, and interventions that may help mitigate food safety risks at the consumer stage.

    Case-studies from the JEMRA report that illustrate practical examples of current water (re-)use in the fresh fruits and vegetables sector in different parts of the world

    The outcomes of field testing the proposed framework by stakeholders (competent authorities and farmers/food industry).

    Presenters
    • Zhou Kang, Presenter FAO, Italy
    • Anna Allende, Presenter CEBAS-CSIC, Spain
    • Rob de Jonge, Presenter National Institute of Public Health, The Netherlands
    • Elisabetta Lambertini, Presenter GAIN, USA
    • Leon Gorris, Moderator Food Safety Futures, The Netherlands
  • Matrix Additions Part 2: Alternative Approaches for Rapid Pathogen Detection Methods

    Organized by: Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    The food safety industry recognizes the increasing need for the most prudent, scientifically, and economically sound approaches to method validation and verification for pathogen methods. The scope of certified methods available from test kit providers for significant pathogens is limited to the matrices included in the validation study. With tens of thousands of food products on the market, third-party validations of all matrices at all test portion sizes is not cost-efficient or feasible. Matrix studies can extend the use of a method to a food not included in the original validation and be used to ensure that a method is fit-for-purpose for the end-user. Part 2 of this webinar series will dive deeper into the complexities of matrix evaluation and method performance. Examples of food-similarity grouping and the application of a risk-based questionnaire will be presented to help end-users determine an appropriate level of evaluation for their method of choice.

    Learning Objectives:
    1. Decipher the critical parameters of rapid pathogen detection method and the intrinsic properties of food matrices that may affect method performance.
    2. Learn the proposed levels of matrix evaluation as they relate to matrix risk assessment.
    3. Outline considerations for strain selection and sample spiking procedures for matrix evaluation.
    Understand how to use the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG's Matrix Risk Assessment Tool and interpret the outcome.

    Presenters
    • Amanda Brookhouser-Sisney, Presenter Midwest Laboratories
    • Nisha Corrigan, Presenter Hygiena
    • Jaya Sundaram, Moderator WTI, Inc
  • Diversify Your Food Safety and Quality Data: Where Are My Results and What Are They Telling Me?

    Organized by: Applied Laboratory Methods PDG, Data Management & Analytics PDG, and Hygiena

    In today's food industry, data collection is widespread, but often, this data remains in raw forms like numbers and symbols due to departmental silos and profitability concerns. Companies struggle to create a comprehensive narrative about product safety and quality despite investing time and effort in sample collection and lab tests. Modern tools leverage internet connectivity and advanced algorithms to unlock the true potential of this data, revolutionizing the food industry. However, challenges lie in effectively implementing these technologies. This session aims to encourage the sharing of industry practices related to environmental monitoring, indicator testing, pathogen detection, and quality analysis. By uniting these facets, collaborative problem-solving can address issues without inadvertently creating new ones.

    Learning Objectives:

    •Data Digitization for Holistic Food Safety and Quality Management
    •Maximizing Your Testing Budget for Actionable Data-Driven Decision-Making
    •Utilization of Indicators and Pathogens to Manage from Live Production, Process Control and Final Product

    Presenters
    • Mindy Brashears, Presenter Director of ICFIE at Texas Tech University
    • Karen Beers, Presenter Pilgrim's, Director – Lab Services
    • Matt Hahs, Moderator Hygiena, Sr Global Product Manager
  • Plant-Based Meat Analogues; How far of an Analogue in Microflora?

    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.

    Presenters
    • Alejandra Ramirez, Presenter Impossible Foods
    • Nicolette Hall, Presenter Kerry
    • Joyjit Saha, Moderator Kerry
  • Food Safety and Quality under the Auspices of Data Science

    Organized by: Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG

    The current controls in the food value chain are commonly inadequately applied, and thus fail to prevent microbial contamination of food products, compromising consumer confidence in food safety and quality. On the other hand, to meet market demands food business operators (producers, retailers, resellers) and regulators need to develop and apply structured quality and safety assurance systems, based on thorough risk analysis and prevention, through monitoring, recording and controlling of critical parameters covering the entire product’s life cycle. However, the production, supply, and processing sectors of the food chain are fragmented and this lack of cohesion results in failure to adopt new and innovative technologies, products and processes. The potential of using information technologies (e.g., data repositories in cloud platforms) in tandem with data science (data mining, pattern recognition, uncertainty modelling, artificial intelligence etc.), throughout the farm-to-fork continuum, will provide stakeholders with novel tools regarding the implementation of more efficient than the currently applied food safety management systems.

    Presenters
    • George Nychas, Presenter Agricultural University of Athens
    • Panagiotis Skandamis, Moderator Agricultural University of Athens
  • Managing Meat Shelf Life and Spoilage to Ensure Food Security

    Organized by: Meat and Poultry Safety and Quality PDG

    The estimated economic impact due to the food waste and spoilage amounts to a loss of a third of all the food produced. No matter how this data is sliced, microbial spoilage has been implicated to a large portion of this loss. According to one estimate, a quarter of all food supply is lost to the microbial activity alone. This is partially because food safety is a huge emphasis and limitation of technology for testing. However, technology has evolved to include faster more sophisticated tools for diagnosis and prevention in the arena of food spoilage. With proper research, dedication and focus reducing food waste due to spoilage could be improved.
    This discussion is proposed to stimulate provocative forward thinking on new designs and processes to reduce spoilage and food loss. The key panelist will include a combination of production industry, alliance groups such as NAMI, NCC, academia and retail to discuss the overall impact of food spoilage waste and the changes needed to implement for the future of food security.

    Learning Objectives:
    The key objective is to discuss measures to reduce waste through addressing food spoilage which support growth in food security. This is a huge financial and growing concern in industry and retail members. The key panelist would be a combination of production industry, alliance groups such as NAMI, Academia and retail to discuss the overall impact of food spoilage waste on future supply. The topics would fall under the following categories: Safety and Microbial Quality of Foods (Dairy, Meat and Poultry, Seafood, Produce, Water) and General-applied Food Safety Microbiology (for example, advances in sanitation, laboratory methods, quality assurance, food safety systems), at a minimum.

    Presenters
    • Kaitlyn Compart, Presenter Smithfield Foods
    • Faith Critzer, Presenter University of Georgia
    • Sherry Trujillo, Presenter JBS
    • Jesus Valazco, Presenter HEB
    • Heath LaFevers, Moderator bioMerieux
  • Pre-harvest Internalization:  Water-mediated Biological Internalization of Pathogens into Produce

    Organized by: IAFP's Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality PDG

    What’s worse than pathogens on your produce? Pathogens IN your produce. This concept may be accepted as common sense by the fresh produce industry. Two related concepts are explicitly written into the Food Safety Modernization Act, Produce Safety Rule (21 CFR 112) and addressed in regulatory language:
    1) Infiltration during postharvest washing due, in part, to temperature differential in wash water (§ 112.48, as published in 2015) and
    2) Internalization while growing due, in part, to commodity susceptibility to adhesion and internalization (proposed § 112.43, as re-numbered in the proposal published in 2021)
    In this seminar, subject-matter experts will discuss the state of the science about pathogen internalization while growing as caused by three different mechanisms (incorporation into ovary during blossom stage, plant-pathogen interactions on leaf surfaces, uptake through roots). Following the three 15-minute presentations, the presenters will discuss the risk to produce from pre-harvest pathogen internalization and take questions from viewers.

    Learning objectives:
    1. Gain a conceptual understanding of mechanisms that lead to preharvest pathogen internalization into fresh produce
    2. Understand the research-based data describing how, when, and how much preharvest pathogen internalization might occur in various processes and commodities
    3. Understand how existing data can be applied to assess risk related to preharvest pathogen internalization for various processes and commodities
    4. Identify gaps in knowledge that may lead to further research related to preharvest pathogen internalization
    5. Recognize uncertainties caused by gaps in knowledge, which may hinder attempts at assessing risk related to preharvest pathogens

    Presenters
    • Kellie Burris, Presenter FDA/CFSAN
    • Shirley Micallef, Presenter University of Maryland
    • Kalmia Kniel, Presenter University of Delaware
    • Enrique Garcia, Moderator FirstFruits Farms
  • FDA’s Food Traceability Final Rule

    Organized by: IAFP's Committee for Control of Foodborne Illness

    Description: In 2022, FDA published the Food Traceability final rule, a component of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), to enhance food traceability and strengthen the response to foodborne illness outbreaks. The rule will require covered entities to maintain key data elements (KDEs) for specific points in the supply chain (Critical Tracking Events or CTEs). Supply chain partners in the food industry will need to work together to implement the rule. This session will provide an overview of the Food Traceability Rule as well as perspectives on how it can be implemented and the benefits of effective traceability. Presenters will discuss the main requirements of the rule, detail what is needed to comply with the rule and provide an industry perspective on what is already being done to comply. A panel will be held to discuss the advantages and challenges of traceability as well as answer audience questions.

    Learning Objectives:
    1. Provide information on the Food Traceability final rule.
    2. Identify resources and tools for learning about the rule.
    3. Review an example scenario of how the rule improves traceability
    4. Provide the perspective of an industry partner on how to prepare for implementing the rule.

    Session 1: Angela Fields, Presenter "Overview of the Food Traceability Rule"
    Session 2: Asma Madad, Presenter "Traceability in Action: How the Rule Could Impact Future Outbreak Investigations"
    Session 3: Tim York, Presenter "Industry Perspective: Getting Ready for the Food Traceability Rule "
    Kari Irvin , Moderator
    Adam Friedlander, Moderator

    Presenters
    • Angela Fields, Presenter FDA
    • Asma Madad, Presenter FDA
    • Tim York, Presenter California LGMA
    • Kari Irvin, Moderator FDA
    • Adam Friedlander, Moderator FDA
  • Modeling Salmonella Growth and Inactivation for Small and Very Small Processors with Limited Data

    Organized by: The Meat and Poultry Quality and Safety PDG and the Microbial Modeling and Risk Analysis PDG

    Predictive microbial models are a cost effective tool to assist small and very small meat plants as they strive to meet regulatory guidelines or handle process deviations. The data collected by these small operations may be incomplete and/or of low quality yet still be helpful in informing food safety decisions. This webinar will discuss the types of data limitations commonly occurring in these operations as well as techniques to address imperfect, missing and otherwise incomplete datasets that still result in robust decision making. Advise for industry members, extension specialists and/or researchers who assist small and very small meat industry members will be provided by speakers.

    Learning Objectives:
    •Understand the fundamentals of predictive microbial modeling for Salmonella in meat processing establishments
    •Learn several types of data limitations commonly encountered when working with small and very small meat plants.
    •Learn several ways of overcoming these data limitations while still making good quality science-based decisions.

    Don Schaffner, Presenter - Rutgers University
    James Dickson, Presenter - Iowa State University
    Dennis Seman, Moderator - DL Seman Consulting, LLC

    Presenters
    • Don Schaffner, Presenter Rutgers University
    • James Dickson, Presenter Iowa State University
    • Dennis Seman, Moderator DL Seman Consulting, LLC
  • Don’t be Shellfish! Use Next Generation Sequencing to Improve Seafood Safety and Quality

    Organized by: IAFP's Seafood Safety and Quality

    Seafood safety and quality research primarily focuses on two areas: the presence of pathogens and spoilage. Spoilage is traditionally evaluated using microbiological, chemical, and/or sensory analyses of products. Pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, are commonly detected with molecular methods, including real-time PCR and Sanger sequencing. However, as next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches such as metagenomics and whole genome sequencing (WGS) are more readily available, their use can provide a broader perspective on seafood safety and quality compared with classic molecular techniques. While WGS and metagenomic tools are frequently applied to other food commodities, the application of these powerful tools towards seafood safety, quality, and outbreak investigations is not as widespread. Key questions remain about NGS and seafood research. Focusing on seafood safety and quality, this webinar will delve into metagenomics and WGS as tools for a better understanding of pathogens and spoilage organisms, and their associated public health risks.

    Learning Objectives:

    -Explore recent advancements of NGS tools in seafood safety and quality research and application of these tools to seafood spoilage with an emphasis of comparison to traditional methods.
    -Apply metagenomics to bacterial and viral analyses of seafood safety.
    -Discuss lessons learned in overcoming the challenges of seafood matrices to generate impactful NGS data for practical applications.

    Presenters
    • Foteini Parlapani, Presenter University of Thessaly
    • Sabrina Mace, Presenter Ifremer
    • Christopher Grim, Presenter U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Soizick Le Guyader, Presenter Ifremer
    • Marlee Mims, Presenter & Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Rachel Rodriguez, Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Using Science and Technology to Reduce Food Waste and Ensure Food Safety

    Increased awareness of pathogen-driven crises such as Listeria monocytogenes has urged the industry to be critical towards food safety and the development of food safety prediction tools using predictive microbiology. The use of these tools has immensely helped the industry to manage the crisis by providing faster prediction of risk assessment of the pathogens in different food products.

    Although there is rapid progress in the modeling tools for detecting food safety risks, there is little use of this technology to estimate shelf-life/detect spoilage. While food spoilage is one of the main contributors to the global issue of food waste and hunger-related diseases, every year over 16 million people (about the population of New York) die of hunger. Understanding this problem, developing solutions, and creating social enlightenment are one of the key challenges. Predictive microbiology could provide simple solutions to monitor the loss of product shelf life during storage, distribution, and sale.

    Learning Objectives:

    1. Understanding food loss and how it affects food security/sustainability.
    2. Microbial ecology and physiology of common spoilage culprits: psychotropic, pseudomonads and lactic acid bacteria.
    3. Potential solutions to the challenge of food spoilage.
    4. Available data and tool development.

    Presenters
    • Joyjit Saha, Moderator Kerry
    • Donald W. Schaffner, Speaker Rutgers University
    • Eelco Heintz, Speaker Kerry
  • Tech-Enabled Traceability: Get Ready For FSMA 204 With GS1 Standards

    Join Industry Leaders to Discuss What’s Needed for Final Rule Compliance.
    In late 2022, The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) finalized their traceability rule for producers of high-risk foods under Section 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). As the industry needs to be compliant with this regulation by January 2026, it is important to know that GS1 standards can help play a pivotal role in helping organizations on their compliance journey.
    Previously, FSMA only required “one up/one down” visibility of the product’s movement through the supply chain. Now, supply chain partners will have to keep more detailed records, such as the traceability lot code for each product to drive greater transparency. GS1 US Standards can help supply chain partners by establishing a common language for key product data to be captured, shared, retrieved, aggregated, and interpreted by all links in the supply chain.
    In this session, attendees will learn how they can take action to deliver on heighted expectations for food safety and transparency. Those in attendance will also discover how GS1 Standards can be used to go above and beyond the new regulation, while also hearing first-hand from industry colleagues about their varying levels of standards adoption in their traceability journey.

    Learning Objectives:
    • Hear directly about the ongoing challenges associated with food traceability and new opportunities that FSMA 204 presents to industry.
    • Learn which GS1 Standards help companies identify products individually and at the case/carton level, capture information about them, and share data with multiple trading partners efficiently.
    • Discover different ways the industry has gone about leveraging GS1 Standards to drive traceability, supply chain visibility, and ultimately meet the requirements of FSMA 204

    Presenters
    • Ryan Peters, Presenter Chick-Fil-A
    • Brando Tijerina, Presenter Taco Johns
    • Stacie Sanders, Presenter ARCOP, INC
    • Greg Cassens, Presenter Dot Foods
    • Norma Crockett, Moderator Director, Community Engagement GS1 US
  • Dry Cleaning: Is Water Friend or Foe in Food Safety and Sanitation?

    Organized by: The Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG

    We tend to think of water as our friend when it comes to cleaning, it's fast, easy, and effective, but its presence can encourage microbial growth and increase the spread of contamination.
    Dry sanitation in the food industry is usually only considered in relation to those food plants that undertake dry/low (aw) food and ingredient processing. But dry/limited water sanitation can be a valuable option in the control of microbial hazards, and improve food safety for any processing plant.
    In this webinar, Vikan’s Global Hygiene Specialist, Debra Smith, and Karl Thorson, Food Safety and Sanitation Manager at General Mills, will guide you in the maintenance of food safety and quality through the use of dry/limited water sanitation.

    Learning Objectives:
    Uncontrolled water: Learn how to
    • Prevent it
    Design it out – facilities & equipment; systems - zoning
    Make it easy to clean – hygienic/sanitary design
    • Find it
    Drips, leaks, condensation, pooling, steam, frost, uncontrolled wet cleaning
    • Fix it
    Eliminate drips, leaks, etc.
    Rationalize your cleaning
    Choose sanitation methods that maximize contamination removal & minimize its spread

    Presenters
    • Debra Smith, Presenter Global Hygiene Specialist at Vikan
    • Karl Thorson, Presenter Food Safety and Sanitation Manager at General Mills
    • Nathan Mirdamadi, Moderator Sr. Food Safety Specialist at Commercial Food Sanitation L.L.C.
  • WHO Global Strategy for Food Safety 2022-2030

    Organized by: IAFP's International Food Protection Issues PDG

    The Global Strategy for Food Safety has been developed to guide and support WHO Member States in their efforts to prioritize, plan, implement, monitor, and regularly evaluate actions toward the reduction of the burden of foodborne diseases by continuously strengthening food safety systems and promoting global cooperation. The strategy’s vision is for all people, everywhere, to consume safe and healthy food so as to reduce the burden of foodborne diseases. This strategy gives stakeholders the tools they need to strengthen their national food safety systems and collaborate with partners around the world.
    During the webinar, the roles and involvement of the different stakeholders in the implementation of the strategy and in strengthening food safety systems will be presented.

    Learning Objectives:
    To celebrate World Food Safety Day 2023, the webinar will present the recently published WHO Global Strategy for Food Safety 2022-2030. Participants will be informed about the importance of food safety to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the strategic priorities to build proactive, forward-looking, evidence-based, people-centered, and cost-effective food safety systems with coordinated governance and adequate infrastructures, the implementation of the strategy by Member States and the role of WHO, and monitoring and evaluation including a logical framework and targets for three global indicators.

    Presenters
    • Simone Moraes Raszi, Presenter World Health Organization
    • Marcel Zwietering, Moderator Wageningen University
  • Work Smarter, Not Harder - discussing the challenges and opportunities to improve support specific to small processors

    While the FSMA PCHF rule has been in effect since 2015, there is an alarming number of processors who are either unaware of the rule or are not in compliance with it. Therefore, there has been a significant amount of work to create resources and increase awareness.

    The FDA and USDA formed four Regional Centers in 2015 with the aim to develop a national coordinated approach to food safety outreach and education of small and very small processors. Over the past 7 years, these efforts have focused on long-term activities to better understand the specific needs of this hard-to-reach audience and develop tailored resources to address these needs.

    Learning Objectives:
    A discussion of current best-shared practices and advice in terms of how to connect and engage with small processors, including a collaborative discussion related to some of the limiting factors that we have learned across regional centers through direct engagement with this underserved community.

    Awareness of existing resources developed by each regional center and the USDA Food Safety Outreach Program and discussion of how others can leverage those resources within their work.

    Create connections that can foster future collaborative work resulting in greater impact.

    Presenters
    • Annie Fitzgerald, Presenter Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety
    • Lynette Johnston, Presenter Southern Center for Food Safety Training, Outreach, and Technical Assistance
    • Angela Shaw, Presenter North Central Region Center for FSMA Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance
    • Stephanie Brown, Presenter Western Regional Center to Enhance Food Safety
    • Jodi Williams, Presenter United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Outreach Program
    • Amanda Kinchla, Moderator University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Matrix Additions to Rapid Pathogen Detection Methods- Part 1: Assuring the Right Fit

    The food safety industry is rapidly evolving to address the new regulatory requirements set forth by the Food Safety Modernization Act. End-users, such as food manufacturers and third-party laboratories, must ensure that analytical methods, designed to detect hazards, are fit-for-purpose for their specific commodities. Most commonly used pathogen detection methods have undergone rigorous validation through third-party certification bodies such as AOAC, AFNOR, MicroVal, and others. This creates a list of officially validated matrices limited to the foods and method parameters outlined in the study. This often falls far short of what is seen routinely during end-user testing. Matrix evaluation studies are used to extend the method scope to a new matrix or test portion size. Here, we provide guidance on alternate evaluation approaches using a food-similarity grouping and a risk-based questionnaire to help end-users determine an appropriate level of evaluation for their method of choice.

    Learning Objectives

    1. Understand the gap(s) in the scope of validation for rapid pathogen detection methods.
    2. Learn how to perform a risk assessment for method performance.
    3. Learn how to group food matrices based on intrinsic properties.
    4. Learn how to select an enrichment condition for a matrix evaluation study.

    Presenters
    • Gabriela Lopez Velasco, Speaker Neogen Food Safety
    • Patrick Bird, Speaker bioMerieux
    • Takiyah Ball, Moderator Sargento
  • Introduction to Toxicology Part II: New Methodologies: Application in Food Safety and International Trade 

    Organized by: IAFP's The International Food Protection Issues PDG

    Part Two of a Two-Part Series: New Methodologies: Application in Food Safety and International Trade
    Producing safe food requires attention to several aspects of the food during production, harvesting, processing, and distribution. Factors such as microbiological, allergen, foreign material, and chemical management are important parts of the overall food safety picture. With the current interest in toxic elements/heavy metals in infant formula and other foods, as well as the increasing interest in micro and nano plastics in food and the environment, a series of webinars has been created to provide overviews of the major principles of food toxicology; a review of already existing or newly developed methods and how these methods are applied to food toxicology; case studies of relevance to the food safety professional; as well as highlighting available resources.
    This second webinar aims to provide a brief review of newly developed methods and discuss how they are and/or can be applied to food toxicology relevant to food safety and international trade.

    Presenters
    • Suzanne Fitzpatrick, presenter U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • José Vicente Tarazona Lafarga, Presenter PARC
    • Marianne Solomotis, Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Steven Hermansky, Moderator DABT
  • Is it a Listeria sensu stricto or sensu lato species? Why understanding the difference is important

    Organized by: The Applied Laboratory Methods PDG and Merieux NutriSciences

    The Listeria genus has rapidly expanded since 2009 from six to 28 species. Comparative characterization of Listeria clearly indicated the existence of two distinct groups that are now formally known as the Listeria (i) sensu stricto, and (ii) sensu lato. The Listeria sensu stricto consists of L. monocytogenes (LM) and the species that indicate a potential for LM contamination; this group now contains 10 species. The Listeria sensu lato, which initially only included L. grayi, has now grown to 18 species. Arguably, all of the Listeria sensu lato species are divergent enough from the Listeria sensu stricto to warrant reclassification as separate genera. Therefore, when a Listeria spp. detection method is reported to “not detect all species”, it is important to evaluate if it is a sensu stricto or a sensu lato that is not detected as this distinction has different implications for food safety.

    Learning Objectives:
    -Review why genomics data supports a re-organization of Listeria and that only the Listeria sensu stricto species should be classified as a Listeria
    -Clarify the expectations for detecting all Listeria spp. using the currently available rapid detection and identification methods.
    -Understand the FDA's perspective on detecting the new Listeria species

    Presenters
    • Martin Wiedmann, Presenter Cornell University
    • Yi Chen, Presenter Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Catharine Carlin, Presenter Merieux NutriSciences
    • Sarita Raengpradub, Moderator Merieux NutriSciences
  • Food Toxicology Webinar-Food Chemical Safety and Current Tools and Methods

    Organized by: The International Food Protection Issues PDG

    Part One of a Two-Part Series:
    Producing safe food requires attention to several aspects of the food during production, harvesting, processing, and distribution. Factors such as microbiological, allergen, foreign material, and chemical management are important parts of the overall food safety picture. With the current interest in toxic elements/heavy metals in infant formula and other foods, as well as the increasing interest in micro and nano plastics in food and the environment, a series of webinars has been created to provide overviews of the major principles of food toxicology; a review of already existing or newly developed methods and how these methods are applied to food toxicology; case studies of relevance to the food safety professional; as well as highlighting available resources.
    This first webinar aims to provide basic overviews of food chemical safety and of current tools and methods that are used in toxicology.

    Part II is scheduled for May 16, 2023

    Presenters
    • Steve Hemansky, Pharm.D., Ph.D., DABT, Presenter U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • George Kass, Ph.D., ERT, Presenter European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
    • Marianne Solomotis, Ph.D., Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Suzanne Fitzpatrick, PhD, DABT, ERT Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Produce Safety Risks and an Update on Two Ongoing Research Projects - Risks imposed by wild birds and risks associated with EHEC during post harvest leafy greens

    Organized by the IAFP Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality PDG

    This webinar will focus on two ongoing research projects related to produce safety, "A holistic assessment of the food safety risks imposed by wild birds" and "quantifying risk associated with changes in the EHEC physiology during post harvest pre processing stages of leafy green production". The researchers will provide a synopsis of their current research including background, purpose, methodology and expected outcomes that may assist farmers with mitigating produce safety hazards. They will also discuss previous research that has led them to these research projects and future research that may evolve from these studies.


    Learning Objectives:
    1. Potential produce safety risks associated with wild birds
    2. Potential produce safety risks associated with changes in EHEC physiology during post-harvest pre-processing stages of leafy green production.
    3. Potential connections between researchers and industry related to the aforementioned topics

    Presenters
    • Teresa Bergholz, Presenter Michigan State University
    • Daniel Karp, Presenter University of California- Davis
    • Kristin Esch, Moderator FDA and Chair of the Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality PDG
  • Managing Foreign Materials and Physical hazards Risk to Make Recalls More (Not Less) Foreign 

    Organized by: University of Wisconsin-River Falls

    In a post-pandemic world, Food safety is emerging as one of the prime concerns for the industry, regulators, and consumers. While foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls due to contamination of food caused by foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli get most of the publicity, the presence of unwanted foreign materials and physical hazards in ingredients and foods is emerging as a growing problem and a leading cause of food product recalls. In many cases, these recalls can affect the entire supply chain and result in extreme financial losses for affected companies. This webinar is designed to discuss foreign material risks and trends, the leading causes of foreign material recalls, and various approaches and strategies that the food industry can employ for minimizing foreign material contamination risk through developing partnership strategies with technology suppliers and implementing programs for mitigating the threat of foreign material contamination to protect their brand from making foreign material recalls more foreign.

    Learning Objectives:

    Participants will learn:
    •Significance of foreign material and physical hazard in the context of food safety and quality.
    •Foreign material risks and trends
    •How to best respond when foreign material contamination is suspected
    •Strategy and approaches for working closely with solution providers and developing technology that better suits the manufacturing environment for mitigating risk in a more efficient manner and discussing proven strategies for ensuring future success.

    Presenters
    • Lee Reece, Presenter Kraft Heinz Company
    • Shawn Stevens, Presenter Food Industry Council, LLC
    • Purnendu Vasavada, Presenter and Moderator University of Wisconsin- River Falls/ PCV & Associates, LLC
  • Journal of Food Protection (JFP) Open Forum

    Join Michelle Danyluk, President of IAFP and Panos Skandamis, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Food Protection (JFP) for a conversation about JFP becoming an Open Access journal with Elsevier as its publisher.  How do you benefit whether you work in Academia, Government, or Industry?  Why is this important now?  What opportunities lie ahead?   Send us your comments, questions, and ideas.  This is your invitation to be part of JFP’s future.

    Schedule:
    Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 10:00 a.m. New York, 3:00 pm London, 5:00 Pretoria, 7:00 pm Dubai
    Tuesday, February 7, 2023, 8:30 am Delhi, 11:00 am Beijing, 4:00 pm Auckland

    Presenters
    • Michelle Danyluk IAFP Executive Board President
    • Panos Skandamis Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Food Protection (JFP)
  • A Comparison Between Manual and Automated Microbial Testing Methods

    Testing food and other products for microbial safety is a critical part of any safety program. Traditionally, this testing is done using manual techniques that can be laborious and time consuming. In addition, the techniques needed to conduct manual testing require considerable skill and experience and can be subject to human error. Consequently, it would be desirable to be able to automate these processes. However, the concern with automated methods is whether they give equivalent results to more traditional manual methods. This requires validation testing to show equivalency between manual and automated methods. This seminar will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various manual and automated methods used in a microbial testing lab. In addition, a case study comparing manual and automated testing results will be discussed.

    Learning Objectives:
    •The automated solutions available for microbial testing
    •The differences and similarities between manual and automated microbial plate inoculation
    •The differences and similarities between manual and automated microbial plate colony counting
    •The added value of having automation for both inoculation and colony counting

    Presenters
    • Blanca Ruiz, Presenter University of Georgia
    • Brady Paul Carter, Moderator Neutec Group
  • Green Cards for Scientific Researchers: How to win your EB-1A/NIW Case

    Organized by: IAFP's Student Professional Development Group

    Brian Getson is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School with 25 years of experience. He is a leading U.S. immigration lawyer who represents scientific researchers in applying for green cards and leads his immigration law firm based in Philadelphia. Mr. Getson has given presentations on "Green Cards for Scientific Researchers" at numerous major scientific conferences, the Wistar Institute, and at Universities. Mr. Getson often provides a money-back guarantee to qualified applicants giving clients confidence that they will get results.

    Learning Objectives:
    1. To gain some background visas such as EB-1 & NIW for international graduate students or postdoctoral scholars in the STEM area.
    2. To learn more about immigrant (permanent) or nonimmigrant (temporary) work visas based on achievement for scientific researchers.
    3. To learn how to effectively prepare and present evidence in support of a petition submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

    Presenters
    • Brian Getson, Presenter Getson & Schatz, P.C.
    • Minji Hur, Moderator University of Georgia
  • Navigating the USAJOBS Application Process

    Organized by: The IAFP Student PDG

    In this two-hour webinar, the Office of Personnel Management will provide a 1.5-hour presentation on how to navigate the USAJOBS application process including how to find and apply for federal jobs. Topics will include how to create a profile, understanding eligibility vs qualifications, how to save searches, how to make your resume searchable, etc. Additionally, this webinar will provide 30 minutes for the audience to ask questions to the Office of Personnel Management.

    Learning Objectives:
    1.) How to apply for jobs through the USAJobs system
    2.) Understand what jobs you are eligible vs qualified for
    3.) How to search for jobs and save jobs searches
    4.) Debunk common myths about the federal job application process
    5.) Answer any questions the audience has about applying for federal jobs

    Presenters
    • Lauren Foreman, Presenter Office of Personnel Management
    • Katherine Kovar, Presenter Office of Personnel Management
    • Claire Murphy, Moderator Virginia Tech
  • Developing and Utilizing Your LinkedIn Profile for Graduate Students and Young Professionals

    Organized by: IAFP Student PDG

    This webinar will provide guidance aimed at students and early career professionals on how to build and develop a professional on-line personal brand using LinkedIn. This webinar will touch upon which parts of your LinkedIn profile to focus on and how to customize your profile for your career goals. This webinar will also discuss how organizations utilize LinkedIn to identify talent for open positions to emphasize which parts of the profile are important.

    Learning Objectives:
    1.) How to build and develop a professional on-line personal brand using LinkedIn
    2.) Discuss which parts of your LinkedIn profile are important to have developed
    3.) How to write an "About" section
    4.) How to customize your profile for your career goals

    Presenters
    • Lauren Celano, Presenter Propel Careers
    • Claire Murphy, Moderator Virginia Tech
  • Produce Safety Landscape in the Southern Region for Small Farmers

    Organized by: USDA National Agricultural Library, Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO)

    This webinar will provide insight about the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in the southern region of the U.S. and its reach as a source of fresh and processed produce across the United States. The Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC) at the University of Florida expands across the largest area of the U.S. territory, in which produce farmers and producers grow fruits and vegetables across the United States. In addition, the USDA NAL is one of five national libraries across the United States and has a unique information center for the food science community entitled the Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO). FSRIO will share information products on the topic of produce safety and resources across the Food Safety webpage, the Research Projects Database, the Research Publication Feed, and the Meet the Experts key information products. Updated tools and resources will be shared with researchers, small and medium sized farmers, students, and federal government partners reaching a target audience of various food safety professionals who are members of the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP).
    Learning Objectives:
    • To learn about the USDA National Agricultural Library’s Food Safety Research Information Office and its key information products on product safety.
    •To learn about the Southern Regional Research Center at the University of Florida and the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
    •To learn how to identify tools and resources that are available in the U.S. at the National Agricultural Library that meet the needs of growers and processors of fresh and processed fruits and/or vegetables.

    Presenters
    • Michelle Danyluk, Presenter U. of Florida, IFAS CREC and IAFP President
    • Dawanna James-Holly, Presenter USDA NAL, FSRIO
    • Kristin Woods, Presenter Auburn University
    • Zeynep Diker, Moderator USDA NAL, FSRIO
  • Cronobacter in the Spotlight: New Insights Into a Known Organism

    Organized by: ILSI Europe, the Low Water Activity Foods PDG, Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG, and the International Food Protection Issues PDG

    Description: Cronobacter spp. is generally known to survive for long times in dry environments and can also form biofilms. Due to these characteristics the genus is ubiquitous in the environment, and has been isolated from different sources: water, soil, dust, cereals, animal products, herbs, spices and others. Cronobacter spp. (formerly known as Enterobacter sakazakii) was also identified as causative agent in foodborne outbreaks, esp. leading to severe infections, and even death, in infants. Since the majority of cases are in neonates and even premature neonates, the main food product involved is powdered infant formula for babies of 0-6 months. The organism is very robust in surviving dry conditions and is even more difficult to control in dry factory environments than Salmonella. The persistence of these organisms also led to re-occurring outbreaks, fortunately not frequently, but consistent. In this webinar, we will start with a short introduction to the organism and then discuss more details, which are relevant for Cronobacter spp. controls, with an expert panel on subjects like: epidemiology, ecology, persistence, sampling, detection and identification methods, microbiological criteria, and preventive measures. The audience is invited to send in questions beforehand.

    Learning Objectives:

    • Epidemiology, Ecology, Persistence, Sampling, Detection and Identification Methods
    • Microbiological Criteria
    • Preventive measures

    Presenters
    • Seamus Fanning , Presenter University of Dublin, Ireland
    • Roy Betts, Presenter Campden BRI Group, UK
    • Marcel Zwietering, Presenter University of Wageningen, The Netherlands
    • Francois Bourdichon, Presenter Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, France
    • Stephen Forsythe, Presenter Guest lecturer at the University of Hong Kong and Advisor Center for Food Safety, South Africa
    • Anett Winkler, Moderator Cargill, Germany
  • 7-Steps of Sanitation (Spanish)

    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
  • Making Your Environmental Monitoring Plan Smarter

    Using examples and case studies, this webinar will focus on ways to work smarter to extract additional value from EMP data. EMP data can provide information beyond simple verification that sanitation efforts were successful when viewed through the lens of time, space, and workflow. Deep dive data analysis will give you insight into where and what to correct.
    Examples and data analysis derived from both commercially processed foodstuffs and raw fruit and vegetables will be reviewed. Historic data applied to new data provides additional insights. Data analysis strategies will be illustrated with case studies. These case studies will highlight the unique challenges of each situation and the need to avoid a “one size fits all mentality”. Trial metrics will be generated and assessed as models for continuous improvement using case studies.
    Through case studies, we will identify when special tools such as whole-genome sequencing and zone 1 testing, are applicable to your EMP. Case studies will illustrate how to respond to organism recurrence as opposed to transient strains of pathogens. Special emphasis will address the needs of raw, ready-to-eat manufacturers who have characteristic environmental risks due to the absence of a kill step.

    Learning Objectives:
    •Learn to define environmental monitoring performance metrics that apply to your operation and utilize trend analysis in problem prevention.
    •Understanding when whole-genome sequencing adds benefit to your EMP.
    •Demonstrate examples of qualitative and quantitative deep-dive data analysis that provides real actionable insight.
    •Understand when, where, and how to do zone 1 testing. Are the risks worth the reward?
    •Suggest examples of what to advise raw ready to eat, food manufacturer to include in EMP program, and how to use the data generated to correct deficiencies.

    Presenters
    • Doug Marshall, Presenter Eurofins
    • Florence Wu, Presenter Fremonta Corp.
    • Morgan Young, Presenter AEMTEK Labs
    • Eric Wilhelmsen, Moderator Smart Wash Solutions
  • Achieving Best-In-Class Food Safety Culture Through Evolution

    Organized by: Food Safety Culture PDG

    For many of our organizations, food safety culture continues to evolve through shared best practices, adoption of new technologies, enhanced employee training programs and leadership focus. The challenge many of us face is the limited opportunity to learn from those proven organizations that are leaders in demonstrating advanced food safety cultures. What are those food safety strategies other companies are deploying that effectively improve their food safety culture? One organization that has become a leader in food safety culture is Chipotle. Chipotle has developed and implemented progressive strategies for food safety over the last several years with measurable successes as best-in-class food safety culture.

    Kerry Bridges, Vice President of Food Safety for Chipotle will share cutting-edge food safety protocols they have implemented in the areas of supply chain risk management, product technology, ingredient traceability, technical resourcing, 3rd party audits, and supplier and employee training strategies to mitigate food safety risks in their operations. Kerry will share the importance of the shared responsibility of food safety throughout their organization and the importance of involving diverse stakeholders to support their food safety programs. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn proven food safety culture approaches from one of the leaders in our industry!

    Presenters
    • Kerry Bridges, Presenter Vice President of Food Safety, Chipotle Mexican Grill
    • Laura Dunn Nelson, Moderator Vice President Food Safety and Global Alliances, Intertek Alchemy
  • Avoiding Premature Water Activity Testing Results When Meeting Safety Regulations

    Organized by: Low Water Activity Foods PDG

    Government, risk-based product safety programs require water activity testing monitoring to mitigate risk, and these results must be reliable. Consequently, water activity testing methods need to be verified, meet the requirements of standard methods, and represent true equilibrium values. Water activity testing requires a vapor equilibration step that cannot be artificially sped up and fast water activity results are likely not meeting this requirement of vapor equilibrium. To illustrate the potential problems of premature results, several common food products were tested continuously in several manufacturer’s water activity instruments. The results indicate that less stringent end-of-test requirements did produce premature results that were different by as much as 0.03 aw than the final equilibrium results. This webinar will discuss the requirements of common water activity standard methods and the danger of failing audits when relying on premature water activity values.

    Learning Objectives:
    •An overview of the role of water activity testing in meeting government regulations
    •The requirements for water activity testing to meet standard methods and government regulations
    •Why fast water activity results may be premature and not fully reliable
    •The importance of understanding the impact of end-of-test settings
    •Best practices for optimizing test time while still obtaining reliable results

    Presenters
    • Brad Taylor, Presenter Brigham Young University
    • Brady Carter, Presenter Neutec Group
    • Laure Pujol, Moderator Novolyze
  • Does Your Food Safety Culture Bridge the Multi-Cultural Challenges?

    Organized by: Food Safety Culture PDG

    While food safety culture may be defined by the values, beliefs, and policies of a business, success is determined by the applied behaviors of its people. How does a global food manufacturing or retail business bridge its peoples’ multi-cultural and diverse beliefs and behaviors to continue to grow an equitable and inclusive food safety culture within its facilities, across internationally located sites, and throughout its supply chains?

    To address these challenges, while continuing to successfully grow a cohesive food safety culture across regional and international sites, the expert panel will discuss best practices in diversity, equity, empowerment, and inclusion. Participants will gain insights on tools focusing on education, communication, and assessment of their food safety culture progress as well as practical examples of applied best practices.

    Through practical, real-life examples from the panel experts in the supply, manufacturing, and retail, participants will learn:

    -How to gain buy-in from and engage top-level management in the food safety culture journey
    -How to build employee commitment and retention from day one of hire
    -What tools can help in the implementation of a global, multi-cultural, multi-functional approach to food safety culture

    Presenters
    • Austin Welch, Presenter Sage Media
    • Hugo Gutierrez, Presenter Kerry
    • Rolando Gonzalez, Presenter The Acheson Group (TAG)
    • Megan Kenjora, Presenter The Hershey Company
    • Dr. Liliana Casal-Wardle, Moderator The Acheson Group (TAG)
  • Foundations of Produce Safety in Hydroponic and Aquaponic Operations

    Organized by the Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality Professional Development Group

    Hydroponic and aquaponic crop production systems are growing in popularity, number, and scale. Many of these operations may be covered under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule or be subject to third-party audits, raising questions among growers, Extension professionals, researchers, and consultants about produce safety hazards, risk assessment, and other considerations in these operations. In this webinar, we will introduce the diversity of hydroponic and aquaponic operations, key concepts for produce safety risk assessment, and primary considerations for FSMA Produce Safety Rule compliance. We will also solicit feedback from the audience about their experiences and questions regarding produce safety in hydroponics and aquaponics.

    Learning Objectives:
    • Understand the diversity among hydroponic and aquaponic (HP/AP) operations and what these growing systems look like.
    • Gain awareness of key topic areas relevant to produce safety in HP/AP operations.
    • Understand the primary considerations relevant to FSMA Produce Safety Rule compliance in HP/AP operations.
    • Participants share experiences and perceived educational and research needs, contributing to future programming and materials development.

    Presenters
    • Sean Fogarty, Presenter University of Vermont - Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety
    • Gretchen Wall, Moderator International Fresh Produce Association
  • Processing Environment Monitoring in Low Moisture Foods Production: Setting Up a Meaningful Program

    Organized by ILSI Europe

    Recent foodborne outbreaks involving low moisture foods highlight that a well-designed Processing environment monitoring (PEM) is increasingly important in the context of food safety management systems. However, PEM can only form an integral part of food safety systems when it is adequately designed and implemented: looking at the correct organisms of concern, at the right locations and times, using suitable and validated sampling and testing approaches, and being looked at / trended by trained personnel. Such a well-defined and implemented PEM can provide further assurance that the processing environment will not contribute to the contamination of products. In this webinar, experts with academic and industrial experience will unravel how to develop a risk-based approach to support setting up a meaningful program, how to react in case of potential findings, and why / what are the technologies to further characterize detected organisms.

    Learning Objectives:

    -How to set up a meaningful program and react in case of potential findings
    -Risk-based approach and its justification
    -Benefits of using technologies to further characterize findings

    Presenters
    • Francois Bourdichon, Presenter Food Safety, Microbiology and Hygiene
    • Seamus Fanning, Presenter UCD-Centre for Food Safety, University College Dublin
    • Marcel Zwietering, Presenter Wageningen University and Research
    • Anett Winkler, Moderator Cargill Germany GmbH
  • IAFP's Software Fair Series Part 2 - USDA Integrated Pathogen Modeling Program (IPMP)

    Organized by: The Microbial Modeling and Risk Analysis PDG and the International Committee of Predictive Modeling in Food (ICPMF)

    This series of Software Fair webinars aim to spread knowledge about the capacity and usefulness of these tools in industrial food safety and quality applications. The Software Fair webinars have the objective to disseminate the benefits of predictive microbiology, elaborate on its practical principles, and pave the way for the effective use of user-friendly tools; encompassing predictive modeling background in solving practical industrial (e.g., safe product formulations, shelf-life determination, etc.) and/or regulatory-relevant case studies (e.g., exposure assessment, compliance with microbiological criteria, etc.), in a more routine base. It is intended that each webinar presents a brief description of the capabilities of the existing tool(s), and practical case studies or applications; followed by answers to questions/comments from the audience.

    Part 2: Integrated Pathogen Modeling Program (IPMP) is a family of Windows-based desktop data analysis and prediction tools specifically developed for predictive microbiology research and application. The tools are designed to analyze individual isothermal growth and survival curves for primary models and the effect of temperature (secondary models) and also for one-step kinetic analysis that combines both primary and secondary models to minimize the residual errors globally. Integrated Pathogen Modeling Platform is a new online data analysis and prediction tool that incorporates the features and functionalities of desktop applications but is specifically designed for dynamic prediction of the growth and survival of foodborne pathogens throughout the supply chain.

    Presenters
    • Lihan Huang, Presenter USDA Agricultural Research Service, United States
    • Panos Skandamis, Moderator Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
  • A 360° Review for Food Safety Training-Perspectives From Trainers and Business Owners

    Organized by: The Food Safety Education PDG

    Have we not trained enough employees on food safety? How do we know our training is effective? Questions like these lead us to reflect on what we have been doing in the past decade towards food safety training.
    This webinar aims to provide insights on food safety training from both trainers’ and company owners’ perspectives. The first speaker is a successful business owner from a company with both manufacturing and retail functions. He will present an overview of the different levels of food safety training and share his first-hand experience of introducing food safety training in a graduated fashion so both retail and manufacturing staffers can deepen their understanding and engagement over time. The second speaker will share his extensive experience as a trainer from a company that provides food safety training for various clients. The third speaker is from academia who has been providing online food safety training for companies, with interesting research involved. We believe this webinar will provide a comprehensive point of view for our members.

    Learning Objectives:

    1. Understand the differences and the unanticipated challenges in food safety training in retail and manufacturing environments
    2. Understand how food safety training can provide a basis of collaboration between retail and manufacturing environments
    3. Gain perspectives on the diversity of food safety training for different companies
    4. Understand both trainer and company owner’s expectations on food safety training
    5. Better appreciate the role that research plays in food safety training

    Presenters
    • MIchael Koch, Presenter Firefly Farms
    • Thomas Larsen, Presenter State Food Safety
    • Clint Stevenson, Presenter North Carolina State University
    • Wenqing Xu, Moderator Louisiana State University
    • Shauna Henley, Moderator University of Maryland
  • Chemistry and Tools: Designing Your Grocery and Food Service Sanitation Program

    Environmental sanitation is a pillar of food safety. Failures in this area can lead to outbreaks, recalls, quality issues, and associated loss of business and reputation. Most workshops and webinars on this topic are aimed at food manufacturing. However, there are thousands of other food operators, such as grocery stores and restaurants, which do not fit the manufacturer's sanitation mold. Often times the chemicals, tools, and application methods used are different. The aim of this webinar is to get back to basics by focusing on sanitation as it pertains to grocery and foodservice environments.

    Explore environmental sanitation at the grocery and foodservice level
    - Understand how different cleaning chemicals impact cleaning performance
    - Understand how cleaning tools impact sanitation efforts and food safety
    - Understand how the integrated use of cleaning chemicals and tools can optimize your sanitation program
    - Review best practices for integrated sanitation in grocery and foodservice operations

    Presenters
    • David Buckley, Presenter Diversey, Inc.
    • Deb Smith, Presenter Vikan
    • Christopher Jordan, Moderator Diversey, Inc.
  • IAFP DEI Council - How Do I Become a Council Member

    Sponsored by: The IAFP Foundation

    Organized by: The DEI Council

    1. Members will learn about the history and current initiatives of the IAFP DEI Council
    2. Members will learn the application and election process to become an IAFP DEI Council member
    3. We will discuss ways for members to provide feedback to the IAFP DEI Council throughout the year

    Presenters
    • Yvonne Masters, Moderator DEI Council Secretary
    • Angela Shaw, Panelist DEI Council Chair
    • Armitra Jackson-Davis, Panelist DEI Council Vice Chair
    • Kourtney Daniels, Panelist DEI Council Member
  • Choose Your Adventure:  Which Decision should the FSQ Leader Make?  

    Every organization has a culture, and it’s well known that day-to-day behaviors, attitudes, and actions define and drive this organizational culture, which provides the framework for food safety culture.   

    In this webinar, we’ll explore a day-in-the-life of a Food Safety & Quality Leader to look at how different factors such as digital tools, leadership support, psychological safety, and strategic plans impact food safety culture.  The session is designed to be interactive as participants will direct the outcome of the events by choosing which path the FSQ Leader takes during pivotal moments throughout the day, inviting us to explore how these factors impact those decisions and outcomes.  Along the way, we’ll consider how these decisions reflect upon the food safety culture of the organization.  

    Learning Objectives

    The objectives of the session are to explore how decisions around food safety management are impacted by attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to food safety that affect.

    1. Individual FSQ team members work and well-being

    2. The overarching messages around food safety conveyed to the team members within the organization

    3. The outcome of food safety situations in organizations.

    Participants will walk away with practical hands-on approaches both from a technical and cultural standpoint to support their FSQ Team in driving food safety management practices around food safety culture and protecting consumers. 

    Presenters
    • Tia Glave, Presenter Food Safety Catalyst
    • Jill Stuber, Presenter Food Safety Catalyst
    • Stephanie Weinand, Presenter Recall InfoLink
    • Melody Ge, Moderator Starkist, Co.
  • Software Fair Series Part 1 - Bioinactivation & Biogrowth

    Organized by the IAFP Microbial Modeling and Risk Assessment PDG and the ICMPF Committee
    Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation

    Looking for the best fit for your microbiology data? bioinactivation & bio growth can find it for you.

    • Model fitting of growth (biogrowth) or inactivation (bioinactivation) data obtained under isothermal or dynamic conditions, using one-step or two-step approaches.
    • Calculation of predictions as deterministic curves or stochastic intervals (with parameter uncertainty).
    • Possibility to select between a large variety of models commonly used in predictive microbiology (Baranyi model, Weibull model, Cardinal models...).

    Available in two Open Access interfaces: a user-friendly web application, and an R package.

    Bioinactivation is an Open Source online tool for modelling microbial inactivation (https://foodlab-upct.shinyapps.io/bioinactivation4/) using the principles of predictive microbiology. It provides food scientists from academia, industry and regulatory agencies with a user-friendly interface to common tasks for the development and application of microbial inactivation models. It can be used to estimate the kinetic parameters from microbial inactivation data gathered under isothermal (using either a one-step or two-step approach) or dynamic conditions. It also includes functions for making predictions under isothermal or dynamic conditions, with the possibility of including parameter uncertainty (resulting in prediction intervals). Besides these prediction and model fitting tools, it includes additional features to aid in the analysis (residual plots to evaluate the goodness of the fit, statistical analyses, time to reach a given microbial count…). The calculations are based on mathematical models commonly used in predictive microbiology (Bigelow, Weibull, Geeraerd…), giving the user the possibility to alternate between them. The modules included in bioinactivation can be used to characterize the microbial response and compare between different treatment conditions, as well as to support microbial risk assessment and process design.

    Bioinactivation is entirely Open Source and transparent. The calculations are based on the bioinactivation package for R, available in CRAN (https://cran.r-project.org/package=bioinactivation) and GitHub (https://github.com/albgarre/bioinactivation). The code used to build the web application is also openly available in GitHub (https://github.com/albgarre/bioinactivation4).

    Biogrowth is a tool for modeling microbial growth based on predictive microbiology freely available online (https://foodmicrowur.shinyapps.io/biogrowth/). It serves as a user friendly-interface for scientists from academia, industries and regulatory agencies to advanced mathematical tools to describe microbial growth. It implements modules to fit growth models to data gathered under isothermal or dynamic conditions. It can also be used to fit a single model to data gathered under different environmental conditions (global fitting) or to estimate the cardinal growth parameters from a set of growth rates. Biogrowth can also be used to predict microbial growth under isothermal or dynamic conditions, with the possibility to include the effect of parameter uncertainty (resulting in prediction intervals). Furthermore, it includes several tools to aid in the analysis (statistical analyses, residual plots, time to reach a target microbial count…). The users can choose for model fitting or prediction among a variety of models commonly used in predictive microbiology (Baranyi, modified-Gompertz, Ratkowsky, Cardinal…). Therefore, the tools included in biogrowth can aid in the characterization of microbial growth kinetics, as well as to support shelf life estimation and microbial risk assessment.

    As well as bioinactivation, Biogrowth is entirely Open Source and transparent. The calculations are based on the biogrowth package for R, available in CRAN (https://cran.r-project.org/package=biogrowth) and GitHub (https://github.com/albgarre/biogrowth). The code used to build the web application is also openly available in GitHub (https://github.com/albgarre/biogrowth_web).

    Presenters
    • Alberto Garre, Presenter Wangeningen University, The Netherlands
    • Panos Skandamis, Moderator Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
  • Getting Social with Food Safety

    From Facebook and YouTube to Instagram and TikTok, social media continues to evolve. This webinar aims to provide the audience with a fresh perspective of utilizing social media for food safety education by focusing on two relatively new platforms - Instagram and Tiktok. The first speaker is a social media strategist from LSU AgCenter, who will present the best management practices that can help everyone trying to convey education via social media. The second speaker from NC State will showcase their experience on food safety education using Tiktok from a content expert perspective. The third speaker from the Acheson Group will demonstrate their Instagram food safety education strategies and impact.

    Webinar Flyer

    Presenters
    • Anna Ribbeck, Presenter LSU AgCenter, Department of Communication
    • Ellen Shumaker, Presenter NC State
    • Lily Yang, Presenter The Acheson Group
    • Shauna Henley, Moderator University of Maryland
    • Wenqing Xu, Moderator Louisiana State University
  • Practical Guidance for Validation Studies: From Start to Finish

    Organized by ILSI Europe

    Food business operators (FBOs) are required to implement a food safety management plan and document that their control measures are effective to control the identified hazards. The effectiveness of control measures must be validated prior to the implementation of the food safety management plan. Validation studies provide evidence that control measures are capable of effectively controlling the identified hazards and therefore meet the process control objective. Determining key requirements for validation of control measures involves significant challenges such as hazard(s) identification, setting critical control parameters, understanding the interactions between the hazard and the food, and collecting adequate scientific, technical, and/or experimental evidence. Recently, an international, multidisciplinary expert group, convened under the aegis of the European Branch of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI Europe), generated a guidance document on validation studies for lethal control measures for foodborne pathogens. In this webinar, expert group members from industry and academia will demonstrate how in practice to plan and perform a validation study, and to analyze the data in order to establish effective control measures.

    Presenters
    • Heidy den Besten, Presenter Wageningen University Food Microbiolgy
    • Anett Winkler, Presenter Cargill Germany GmbH
    • Roy Betts, Presenter Campden BRI Group
    • Erdogan Ceylan, Moderator Merieux NutriSciences
  • Food Industry’s Response to COVID-19: Lessons Learned and Future Plans

    Webinar Promotion

    Organized by the Georgia Association for Food Protection

    The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all sectors of the food industry. During this challenging time, there has been incredible resiliency along the food supply chain with the implementation of novel infection control measures and rapid learning and adaptation to this fast-changing landscape with the goal of ultimately ensuring safe products to consumers and the health and safety of frontline food workers. The objective of this webinar is to hear perspectives from representatives of meat and poultry manufacturing, auditing, retail, food service, and supply chain sectors. Panelists will share key lessons learned in response to the COVID-19 pandemic across these different sectors. In addition, they will share future plans to protect these sectors against disruptions in the supply chain (minimizing manufacturing closures, etc.,), optimal infection control strategies, and other advances to continue to build resiliency against this and future epidemics.

    Presenters
    • Betsy Booren, Presenter Consumer Brand Association, USA
    • Kaci Foote Food Safety Net Services Certification & Audit, USA
    • Sean Leighton Cargill, USA
    • Steven Lyon Chick-fil-A, Inc, USA
    • Katie Murchison Georgia Association for Food Protection, USA
  • Process Validation to Meet FSMA Regulations Part 4: Other Types of Validation, Cold Filled Product, Meat Product and Sanitation of a Novel Technology

    Food safety is a day-to-day challenge for any food company worldwide. With the application of the FSMA regulation and the Codex Alimentarius, all food processors need to perform a process validation. It consists of obtaining scientific evidence that a control measure or a combination of them if correctly implemented, is capable of controlling the pathogen of concern. It is not always easy to understand where to start. What are the parameters that need to be considered, what is the best methodology?

    Presenters
    • Ashwini Wagh, Presenter The Clorox Company, USA
    • Peter Taormina, Presenter ETNA Consulting, USA
    • James Rush, Presenter Clean Beam, USA
    • Laure Pujol, Moderator Novolyze, France
  • Why Quantification? The Road to Revolutionizing Food Safety

    When speed-to-market is critical and safety cannot be compromised, how can food safety professionals help their poultry companies be more profitable? A rapid Salmonella quantitative test method is a game-changer to provide detailed insight to all stages of poultry production. The ability to respond immediately to CCP failures throughout your plant, or better yet, to prevent them altogether, can keep lines running and products moving out the door. Emerging technologies can help get your products to market quicker, to provide consumers with safe and wholesome products. Join this webinar to learn about the current and future state of regulatory standards and a case study of a true flock to final product application of Salmonella quantification.

    Presenters
    • Mindy Brashears, Presenter Texas Tech University, United States
    • April Englishbey, Presenter Hygiena, United States
    • Julia Poroshkova, Moderator Hygiena, United States
  • Process Validation to Meet FSMA Regulations Part 3: Validation Report

    This is Part 3 of the Process Validation webinar series. Food safety is a day-to-day challenge for any food company worldwide. With the application of the FSMA regulation and the Codex Alimentarius, all food processors need to perform a process validation. It consists of obtaining scientific evidence that a control measure or a combination of them, if correctly implemented, is capable of controlling the pathogen of concern. It is not always easy to understand where to start. What are the parameters that need to be considered, what is the best methodology?

    Presenters
    • Anett WInkler Cargill, Germany
    • Michiel Kokken Olam Food Ingredients, The Netherlands
    • Laure Pujol Novolyze, France
  • Exploring Non-Invasive Instruments to Assess the Microbiological Quality and Authenticity of Meat and Meat Products

    Currently, meat protection relies heavily on regulatory inspection and sampling regimes. In this context, a wide range of chemical, microbiological and immunological analyses have been proposed as means of evaluating various meat protection issues (i.e. quality, safety, and integrity) pertinent to both raw/processed materials and end products.
    Nonetheless, the currently applied analytical techniques are invasive, laborious, and usually provide retrospective information limiting their applicability in or online.
    Hence, it has been acknowledged that new approaches should be designed and implemented if competent management of food protection issues is to be ensured. The ultimate goal of such a concept is the development of a modern food quality and safety management system which, by being based on prevention rather than inspection, will allow for the efficient control of food-related issues throughout the food supply chain. The utilization of rapid, non-invasive methods, capable of providing automated monitoring of meat processes and identified critical parameters, is expected to be of vital importance in this framework.

    Presenters
    • George-John Nychas, Presenter Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
    • Panos Skandamis, Moderator Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
  • Sanitation Steps: When Digital Transformation Streamlines Monitoring of CIP and Open Cleaning Procedures

    The CDC estimates that each year 1 in 6 Americans or 48 million people get sick from foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. The joint mission between the food industry, academia, and regulatory agencies is to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses. Digitalization is a critical step in improving food safety, traceability, and quality programs to decrease the room for error.

    Many companies are in various phases of digitalization at their companies and are test driving digitalization in areas such as environmental monitoring, process, and sanitation controls, recalls, supplier management, and verification systems. They are seeing benefits in traceability, speed, efficiency, centralized data management, and compliance.

    Several open questions remain: What tools exist today and what are missing? How does digitalization actually bridge gaps and how does it work in plants? How does it increase return on investment (ROI) while maintaining regulatory compliance and enhancing the quality of the product?

    Presenters
    • Ruth Petran, Presenter The Acheson Group and Ruth Petran Consulting, LLC.
    • John Donaghy, Presenter Nestle SA
    • Anika Bansal, Presenter Bonduelle Fresh Americas
    • Vidya Ananth, Moderator Novolyze
  • Using Assessment Data to Make Effective Risk Based Food Safety Decisions

    The food industry undergoes multiple assessments, monitoring, and audits to verify the effectiveness of the managed systems but very little analytical assessment is completed with the data being captured in comparison to the efforts and resources used to complete this work. The goal of the webinar seeks to provide an awareness of how to use data obtained from food safety inspections, assessments and audits to work smarter and reduce the likelihood for repeated issues. Utilizing data not only assists in predicting where gaps could occur but also allows to direct limited resources to focus on the areas and programs where efforts are needed most.

    Presenters
    • Lone Jesperson, Presenter Cultivate Food Safety, Switzerland
    • Jennifer Lott, Presenter BSI, United States
    • Mike Wilson, Presenter BRCGS, United Kingdom
    • Andrew Clarke, Moderator Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada
  • GFSI Race to the TOP- Feature 1 Auditor Training and Professional Development

    In 2020 the GFSI, in accordance to the industry requests, initiated a working group to develop a more formalized process for the qualification and ongoing development of professional GFSI food safety auditors. This work commenced in response to feedback for improvement with audit consistency but also to enhance and maintain a structured approach for the development of food safety auditors as a career, to align with other industries but also to help build auditor capacity. The webinar's goal is to provide an overview of the new process and seeks to provide input from two certification bodies on their challenges and how the revised approach could support the auditor qualification process.

    Presenters
    • Kris Middleton, Presenter Bureau Veritas Certification North America, United States
    • Kim Onett, Presenter NSF International, United States
    • Marie-Claude Quentin, Presenter Global Food Safety Initiative, France
    • Andrew Clarke, Moderator Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada
  • Connecting Processing Systems to Optimize Productivity and Reduce Waste While Achieving Higher Compliance

    CDC estimates that each year 1 in 6 Americans or 48 million people get sick from foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. The joint mission between the food industry, academia, and regulatory agencies is to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses. Digitalization is a critical step in improving food safety, traceability, and quality programs to decrease the room for error.

    Many companies are in various phases of digitalization at their companies and are test driving digitalization in areas such as environmental monitoring, process, and sanitation controls, recalls, supplier management, and verification systems. They are seeing benefits in traceability, speed, efficiency, centralized data management, and compliance.

    Several open questions remain: What tools exist today and what are missing? How does digitalization actually bridge gaps and how does it work in plants? How does it increase return on investment (ROI) while maintaining regulatory compliance and enhancing the quality of product?

    Presenters
    • David Acheson, Presenter The Acheson Group
    • Aaron Asmus, Presenter Hormel Foods R & D
    • Vijay Krishna, Presenter Glanbia Performance Nutrition
    • Vidya Ananth, Moderator Novolyze, Inc.
  • Process Validation to Meet FSMA Regulations Part 2: In-plant Validation

    The second session is focused on the presentation of actual validation studies and how to conduct a validation study.

    Food safety is a day-to-day challenge for any food company worldwide. With the application of the FSMA regulation and the Codex Alimentarius, all food processors need to perform a process validation. It consists of obtaining scientific evidence that a control measure or a combination of them if correctly implemented, is capable of controlling the pathogen of concern. It is not always easy to understand where to start. What are the parameters that need to be considered, what is the best methodology?

    Presenters
    • Becky Douglas, Presenter Tree Top, Inc., United States
    • Greg Sommerville, Presenter Frontier Co-Op, United States
    • Jennifer Stivers, Presenter Frontier Co-Op, United States
    • Laure Pujol, Moderator Novolyze, France
  • Low Water Activity Foods Safety Series: Part 4 of 4 - Grain-based Foods and Ingredients

    Grains play a large nutritional role in the diet of the world’s population. Flour is used to bake breads or dried for pasta. It can also be used as carriers for spices and flavors. Furthermore, grains can be made into ready-to-eat cereal and snack bars which contain wheat, oat, corn and rice as foundational ingredients. The presence of Salmonella in raw flour and in post-cooking contamination of cereal and snack bars is the most significant pathogen risk for these products. In this session, an overview of Salmonella management and mitigation control methods will be presented.

    Presenters
    • Deann Akins-Lewenthal, Presenter Conagra Brands Food Company, United States
    • Scott Hood, Presenter Antifragile Food Safety Consulting
    • Joshua Gurtler, Moderator USDA-ARS, United States
  • Processing Water - I Thought It Was Sanitary

    Employee constraints and other pressures on food company ROI are pushing for longer operational runs which reduce cleaning frequency. Cleaning already suffers from time constraints and ever-changing soils.
    As biofilms become a more widespread phenomenon, prevention and mitigation are now at the forefront. This symposium will bring practical knowledge from food processing to provide an operational guide to help.
    After a quick scientific overview of biofilm basics, we will supply a practical hands-on step-by-step approach to analyzing food production facilities via a Risk Assessment on processing water that can be taken back and added to food safety/quality programs. And finally, we will discuss some of those real-life myths & common mistakes in food manufacturing that end up supporting and establishing biofilms. The topics discussed will help the attendees go back and take a novel approach to investigate and help eliminate potential sources and make the cleaning regime more effective.

    Presenters
    • Neil Bogart, Presenter Ecolab, United States
    • Phyllis Posy, Presenter Posy Global, Israel
    • Josie Greve-Peterson, Moderator PSSI, United States
  • Digitalizing Environmental Monitoring Programs to Unlock Their True Value in Ensuring Safe Quality Products

    Session One of Four in the Webinar Series: Food Safety and Quality Meets Digital Transformation – What Are the Industry’s Priority Pathways to Control Pathogens, Indicator Organisms, and Allergens? 

    The CDC estimates that each year one in six Americans or 48 million people get sick from foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3000 die. The joint mission between the food industry, academia, and regulatory agencies is to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses. Digitalization is a critical step in improving food safety, traceability, and quality programs to decrease the room for error.

    Many companies are in various phases of digitalization at their companies and are test driving digitalization in areas such as environmental monitoring, process, and sanitation controls, recalls, supplier management, and verification systems. They are seeing benefits in traceability, speed, efficiency, centralized data management and compliance.

    Several open questions remain: What tools exist today and what are missing? How does digitalization actually bridge gaps and how does it work in plants? How does it increase return on investment (ROI) while maintaining regulatory compliance and enhancing the quality of the product?

    Presenters
    • Derrick Bautista, Presenter Del Monte Foods, United States
    • Joseph Holt, Presenter OSI Group, United States
    • Michael Liewen, Presenter Consultant, United States
    • Mark Moorman, Presenter FDA, United States
    • Vidya Ananth, Moderator Novolyze, United States
  • Process Validation to Meet FSMA Regulations – Tips & Tricks from Case Studies

    Food safety is a day-to-day challenge for any food company worldwide. With the application of the FSMA regulation and the Codex Alimentarius, all food processors need to perform a process validation. It consists of obtaining scientific evidence that a control measure or a combination of them if correctly implemented, is capable of controlling the pathogen of concern. It is not always easy to understand where to start. What are the parameters that need to be considered, what is the best methodology?
    In this webinar series, tips, tricks and the best practices used by industry experts to conduct validations using surrogates will be presented.

    Presenters
    • Juliany Rivera Calo, Presenter Ardent Mills, United States
    • Dessa Hix, Presenter International Specialty Supply, United States
    • Laure Pujol, Presenter Novolyze, France
    • Vidya Ananth, Moderator Novolyze, United States
  • How Not to Put the "No" in Innovation: How to Make Food Safety and Product Development Collaborations Work!

    Organized by: The Wisconsin Association for Food Protection and Wisconsin Institute for Food Technologists

    Food safety is an important factor in the food product development process, which is many times overlooked or underappreciated. On the flip side, the product development process is a fast-paced, time-sensitive process, which relies on immediate reaction to proceed. Food safety, in some cases, can slow or deter the process. In this webinar, we will discuss the process from a food safety and product development expert's point of view and find the common ground that allows the collaboration to proceed without too many “no’s” deterring the process.

    Presenters
    • Kari Jacobsen-Gagnow, Presenter Sargento, United States
    • Joseph Meyer, Presenter Kerry, Inc., United States
    • Kara Baldus, Moderator Hydrite, United States
  • Understanding Tech Traceability: How it Reduces Food Fraud (and Other) Risks

    This webinar will focus on tools available to enhance risk-based decision-making and supporting transparency and authenticity in food supply chains. Effective supply chain management requires transparency and documentation of a host of information: certifications, certificates of analysis, inventory, recalls, returns, and supplier management, to name a few. The speakers will address the need for effective management of a variety of information for successful supply chain oversight and ensuring food integrity, and they will discuss some approaches to this challenge. They will also cover the importance of industry standardization, as well as providing insight into the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint and taking a targeted look at the FDA Leafy Green Pilot.

    Slides and Recording are no longer available.

    Presenters
    • TJ Gupta, Presenter TagOne, United States
    • Kelly Kell Presenter GS1 US, United States
    • Karen Everstine, Moderator Decernis, United States
  • Low Water Activity Foods Safety Series: Part 3 of 4 - Microbiological Safety of Dried Spices

    There are over 100 different plants, both annuals, and perennials that are commonly used as spices. Correspondingly, background microbiomes can vary dramatically as can the associated risk in spices. Spices can be used both fresh and as a dried product, here, the focus will be dried spices. The normal microbiome of dried spices will be affected during the drying process as well associated risk and detection. To further complicate risk in spices, many contain antimicrobial compounds that may inhibit growth of microbes and interfere with the detection of pathogens.  Nonetheless, even spices such as clove or oregano have been known to harbor foodborne pathogens or contain significant amounts of mycotoxins.  Preventative measures primarily focus on prevention and detection and have significant overlap with other dried foods. Further control measures can reduce and even eliminate pathogens from spices.  These include thermal treatment, irradiation, and gas treatments. In this session, the foodborne pathogen risks associated with dried spices and current associated control measures will be presented.

    Presenters
    • Alex Brandt, Presenter Food Safety Net Services, United States
    • Susanne Keller, Presenter FDA, United States
    • Joshua Gurtler, Moderator USDA-ARS, United States
  • COVID-19 and Food Safety

    There is no known evidence that COVID-19 is a foodborne disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that COVID-19 originated from an animal source and spreads person-to-person mainly through respiratory droplets or close contact. Some COVID-19 outbreaks reported in China in late 2020 suggested another possible transmission, known as ‘fomite transmission’, through the frozen food chain and particularly on packaging surfaces. However, data obtained by Chinese officials indicate the possibility of fomite transmission is relatively insignificant. Dr. Junshi Chen, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, and Dr. Samuel Godefroy, University of Laval Department of Food Safety, will provide information to better understand the impact and challenges to the food industry, including latest developments and mitigation strategies, to help reduce such risks to the food supply chain and its workforce.

    Presenters
    • Junshi Chen, Presenter China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment/Shanghai JS Life Science Institute, China
    • Samuel Godefroy, Presenter University of Laval Department of Food Safety, Canada
    • Yifan Zhang, Moderator Wayne State University, United States
    • Zhinong Yan, Moderator Walmart Food Safety Collaboration Center (WFSCC), United States
  • Low Water Activity Food Safety Series: Part 2 of 4 - Microbiological Safety of Nuts and Nut Products

    Worldwide nut production has expanded rapidly over the past 20 years with a corresponding increase in consumption. At the same time, outbreaks of foodborne illness have been associated with the consumption of nuts and their products which resulted in a major shift in the approach used to process these products. Almond, pistachio, and walnut production, harvest and postharvest handling examples will be used to 1) illustrate the underlying intrinsic similarities that impact the persistence of foodborne pathogens in these products; and 2) highlight significant differences in production and harvest, and postharvest handling practices that may influence routes of contamination and potential risk mitigation strategies.

    Presenters
    • Linda Harris, Presenter University of California-Davis, Department of Food Science and Technology, USA
    • Joshua Gurtler, Moderator USDA-ARS, USA
  • Surviving and Thriving During the Pandemic: Perspectives from Research and the Seafood Industry

    Organized by: Seafood Safety and Quality PDG

    Protecting food safety has always relied on the practices of trained workers and the management of product, packaging, and environmental hazards. More than ever, the management of the safety and well-being of workers has become a critical component to sustaining a safe, secure food supply chain.

    Attendees will hear about the challenges and experiences of a diverse panel representing research, domestic food processing, laboratory and management, and an international public-private partnership from a vital harvest industry. This webinar will focus on real-world examples and present tangible actions that had and will have a substantial global impact on both food safety and worker safety.

    Presenters
    • Lorenzo De Santis, Presenter SGS Peru, Peru
    • Douglas Marshall, Presenter Eurofins Scientific Inc., USA
    • Tracy McConnell, Presenter King and Prince Seafood Corp., USA
    • Reza Ovissipour, Presenter Virginia Tech University, USA
    • Kevin Edwards, Moderator SGS North America, USA
    • Jessica Jones, Moderator Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Office of Food Safety, USDA, USA
  • Low Water-Activity Series: Part 1of 4 - Persistent Strains and Source Tracking Principles in Low aw Food Processing Environments

    Several factors in low water-activity manufacturing environments can result in the creation of microbial niches. Environmental niches have been correlated with product contamination. Consequently, environmental monitoring programs are an important part of food safety programs in food manufacturing facilities. Effective programs will find problematic areas from time to time. Sometimes environmental contamination can be the result of a persistent strain of an organism. Persistent strains are commonly interpreted as a failure of environmental controls and are viewed by regulators as more serious than transient strains. The factors that cause these strains to persist in low-moisture environments and evade detection and controls will be discussed. The appropriateness of sub-typing approaches will also be discussed in context of what approaches should be used and when to consider using them.

    Presenters
    • Jeffrey L. Kornacki, Presenter Kornacki Microbiology Solutions, USA
    • Joshua Gurtler, Moderator USDA-ARS, USA
  • Covid-19 Interruptions to Workforce Emphasize the Need for Automation in Microbial Testing Laboratories

    Microbial safety for manufactured products is of critical importance in the prevention of outbreaks and recalls. Microbial challenge testing is used to assess the effectiveness of GMP’s and products cannot be released until microbial testing has been completed. Skilled workers are commonly used to carry out microbial testing, but in times of uncertain skilled labor availability, the testing output will be impacted and may result in a product that can be shipped or is unsafe. Microbial testing automation not only reduces skilled labor requirements but also provides improved throughput and cost savings. The typical time needed to recoup investment costs is around 6-8 months. In addition, automation eliminates common mistakes that occur when completing a repetitive task. The objective of this presentation is to introduce a range of lab automation options available for a microbial testing laboratory and discuss the benefits of creating an uninterrupted workflow.

    Presenters
    • Kelsey Lamb, Presenter University of Kentucky, USA
    • Teresa Blakley, Presenter Oklahoma State University, USA
    • Brady P. Carter, Moderator Neutec Group, USA
  • Data Science in the Food Industry

    Food Safety is one of the main challenges of the agri-food industry expected to be addressed in an environment of tremendous technological progress, where consumers’ lifestyles and preferences are in a constant state of flux. Food chain transparency and trust are drivers for food integrity control and also for improvements in efficiency and economic growth. Similarly, the circular economy has great potential to reduce wastage and improve the efficiency of operations in multi-stakeholder ecosystems. Throughout the food chain cycle, all food commodities are exposed to multiple hazards, resulting in a high likelihood of contamination. Such biological and/or chemical hazards may be naturally present at any stage of the food production, accidentally introduced or fraudulently imposed, putting at risk consumers’ health and their faith in the food industry. Nowadays, a massive amount of data is generated not only from the next-generation's monitoring food safety systems and along the entire food chain (primary production included), but also from IoT, media and other devices, which should be used for the benefit of society. The scientific discipline of "Data Science" should be considered as the vital player of driving forces to make this possible.

    Presenters
    • George Nychas, Presenter Professor, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
    • Panagiotis Skandamis, Moderator Researcher, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
  • Everyday Risks Every Time We Eat - Global Poll Findings of Perceived and Experienced Risks from Unsafe Foods

    Lloyd’s Register Foundation will share findings from the World Risk Poll, the first global study of worry & harm experienced by people from unsafe food & drink. The poll was conducted by Gallup, involving interviews with over 150,000 people in 142 countries

    Findings include:
    •17% of respondents – equivalent to one billion people worldwide – experienced serious harm, or know someone who experienced serious harm, caused by the food they ate in the two years prior to polling
    •The greatest levels of harm from food occur in East Africa (29% experienced harm) and the Middle East (27% experienced harm)
    •Over half of the world’s population, 60% of people worldwide, say they are worried about the food they eat

    Presenters
    • Sarah Cumbers, Presenter Lloyd's Register Foundation, United Kingdom
    • Vincent Doumeizel, Panelist Senior Advisor, Ocean, United Nations, Global Compact, United Kingdom
    • Chris Elliott, Panelist Institute for Global Food Security at Queens University, United Kingdom
    • Steven Jaffee, Panelist Lecturer at the University of Maryland’s Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, United States
    • Beth Elliot, Moderator Lloyd's Register Foundation, United Kingdom
  • A Changing Environment: Impacts on Seafood Safety

    The constantly changing environment impacts food safety in many ways, particularly seafood safety and the seafood industry. Documented changes of the ocean's temperatures, pH, and salinity impact the marine and estuarine environments from which we harvest our seafood. In addition to these global trends, storm activity has increased the freshwater influx to certain estuarine areas (e.g, the United States Gulf Coast) in recent years. 
    While some of these changes may be transient, they have the potential to impact the resident bacteria and phytoplankton populations and species, which can affect human health. For example: pathogenic Vibrio species generally favor warm environments, so their areas of residence and levels may shift with changing water temperatures; and phytoplankton species, some responsible for toxic blooms, have the potential to increase in areas where freshwater influxes bring a heavier nutrient load. These environmental changes may be impacting seafood safety, both due to emerging hazards and geographic expansion of known hazards. This presents a challenge for the seafood industry as well as public health risk managers. 
    This session will provide examples of the impacts of the changing environment on seafood safety and include a perspective from industry.

    Presenters
    • Craig Baker-Austin, Panelist Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science, UK
    • Angelo DePaola, Panelist DePaola Consulting, USA
    • Stacey McLeroy, Panelist U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USA
    • Mike Parsons, Panelist Florida Gulf Coast University, USA
    • Jessica Jones, Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory, USA
    • Lorraine McIntyre, Moderator British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Canada
  • FSMA Full Enforcement Impact on Food Safety - Data Analysis, Stats, Trends, Challenges

    With full implementation of the FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Foods and related regulations, is the nation’s food supply safer than pre-FSMA? Panelists will utilize data and information from the FDA Data Dashboard as well as CDC and private sources to provide observations on whether FSMA has really improved food safety for the American consumer.

    Presenters
    • Glenn Bass, Presenter U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USA
    • Loralyn Ledenbach, Presenter Kraft Heinz Company, USA
    • William Marler, Presenter Marler Clark LLP PS, USA
    • Allen Sayler, Presenter & Moderator EAS Consulting Group, LLC, USA
  • Food Safety Culture - Part 7 of 7: Building Strong Food Safety Cultures with Effective Training Programs

    How does your food safety culture journey compare with your global colleagues?  Food Safety Professionals from over 5,000 plants worldwide shared their feedback in The Global Food Safety Training Survey 2020, an industry benchmarking tool for companies to assess their training programs and share their biggest food safety training challenges. Join us to dissect the insights from this valuable benchmarking tool to better understand the advances we are making in our collective food safety culture journey and the existing challenges identified that may be preventing us from achieving a truly robust food safety culture.    

    By attending this webinar, you will:

    • Receive the food safety culture data highlights and compare your own culture journey
    • Learn how your food safety training program can be a key tool to advance your food safety culture
    • Identify potential gaps in your training program and how other colleagues are overcoming those gaps

    Presenters
    • Laura Nelson Alchemy Systems, USA
    • Bertrand Emond Campden BRI, UK
    • Lone Jespersen, Moderator Cultivate, Switzerland
  • COVID -19 & FOOD SAFETY GLOBAL SUMMIT

    In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, how is the safety of food and food handlers affected?
    This upcoming summit provides the global food industry an insight into the latest situation and research. Learn what are the significant risks and unique challenges of this rapidly evolving virus and how to successfully deal with them.

    Join the discussion and share knowledge.

    Please note: This is a paid webinar and will not be available to IAFP Members after the live event.

  • Food Safety Culture - Part 6 of 7: Dynamic Leadership by Supervisors = Strong Organizational Cultures

    This is the sixth in a seven-part series organized by the Food Safety Culture PDG.

    Spending the time in leadership development of your supervisors and management team translates to a stronger culture and proven return in that investment to your organization. Against the current backdrop of the current COVID-19 pandemic, now more than ever leaders and emerging leaders must tap into skills of adaptability, managing vs. leading, building and maintaining trust, and increased engagement to successfully navigate these new challenges. Hear directly from industry leaders sharing their approaches to investing in their leaders to affect positive cultural change and bring added value to their organization.

    Presenters
    • Kent Summers Daily's Premium Meats, USA
    • Laura Nelson Alchemy Systems, USA
    • Lone Jespersen, Moderator Cultivate, Switzerland
  • Food Safety Culture - Part 5 of 7: Evolving the Retailer Stand on Food Safety Audits; Culture and Behavioral Assessments

    This is the fifth in a seven-part series organized by the Food Safety Culture PDG.

    Learn how leading retailers are incorporating culture and behavioral assessments into their food safety audit.

    Presenters
    • Andrew Clarke Loblaws, Canada
    • Ray Bowe Musgrave, Ireland
    • Dan Fone Walmart, USA
    • Lone Jespersen, Moderator Cultivate, Switzerland
  • Food Safety Culture - Part 4 of 7: SQF and Culture Improvements - Hear Practical Learnings From Two Companies

    This is the fourth in a seven-part series organized by the Food Safety Culture PDG.

    Food safety culture has been a way of life for some and a new approach for others. Learn from established companies on how they started on their journey and how they continue to keep promoting food safety culture in their organizations. 

    Presenters
    • LeAnne Chuboff SQFI, USA
    • Michelle E. Anselment Night Hawk Frozen Foods, Inc., USA
    • Brian Perry Treehouse Foods, Inc., USA
    • Lone Jespersen, Moderator Cultivate, Switzerland
  • Validation of Innovative Tools to Assess and to Improve Microbiological Safety in the Food Chain

    This webinar we will focus on the acceleration of method validation. More specifically with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) it is possible to analyze data from existing official validation of alternative methods to generate tools which can use past evidence to revise and refine the validation criteria so that alternative methods can benefit from a more efficient validation. In this webinar, we will first present the potential of AI in the data analysis to produce models able to predict behaviors and outcomes, with a specific focus on microbiological systems. A critical review will then be presented on the rapid methods available in the market for the detection of foodborne pathogens, which will also underline pros and cons of these approaches. Lastly, a food producing company will report the potential benefits of such an approach, specifically regarding the faster validation of new rapid methods, such as “a lab-on-chip” device for the detection of foodborne pathogens.

    Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation

    Presenters
    • Luca Cocolin, Moderator University of Turin, Italy
    • Pedro Lopez, Speaker Al Talentum, Spain
    • Trevor Phister, Speaker   PepsiCo, Switzerland
    • Pietro Cattaneo, Speaker   SwissDeCode, United Kingdom
  • Food Safety Culture - Part 3 of 6: Latest Food Safety Culture Research From Four Doctoral Researchers

    This is the third in a six part series organized by the Food Safety Culture PDG.

    Get four practical insights from four passionate researchers in the field of food safety culture. From the role of regulators, application of GFSI dimensions, impact of communication, to assessments in SMEs and processing facilities.

    Presenters
    • Lone Jespersen, Moderator Cultivate, Switzerland
    • Sophie Tongyu Wu, Presenter Purdue University, USA
    • Emma Samuel, Presenter Cardiff Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
    • Rounaq Nayak, Presenter Harper Adams University, United Kingdom
    • Shingai Nyarugwe, Presenter Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
  • Cleaning Validation of Cleaning Tools

    The sanitary state of cleaning tools (when compared with that of food equipment or environmental surfaces) is often overlooked as a potential vector of product contamination. This may be because validation of sanitation preventive controls is still not a mandatory requirement in FSMA regulations, and that validation, monitoring and verification of cleaning tools seldom features in site sanitation programs. According to a UK Government funded study (Campden BRI), 47% of the cleaning equipment sampled in food production in facilities tested positive for L. monocytogenes. Moreover, cleaning tools and equipment of poor hygienic design may also harbor other pathogens, including viruses, and allergens and foreign material of food safety concern. This presentation focuses on the appropriate selection of hygienically designed cleaning tools, and the development of validated cleaning tool decontamination methods, and effective monitoring and verification programs.

    Presenters
    • Jason White, Moderator National Frozen Foods, OR, USA
    • Amit Kheradia Remco Products, IN, USA
  • Food Safety Culture – Part 2 of 6: Food Safety Culture & Communication - It’s about People

    This is the second in a series of six webinars organized by the Food Safety Culture PDG:

    In 2019, FDA established priority areas of focus for internal working groups and stakeholders and they are 1) Tech Enabled Traceability and Foodborne Outbreak Response 2) Smarter Tools and Approaches for Prevention, 3) Adapting to New Business Models and Retail Food Safety Modernization and 4) Food Safety Culture. In spite of the release of GFSI’s position paper on Food Safety Culture, several food industry professionals are at a loss in terms of where to start. Those of us in quality and food safety often believe that food safety is our sole responsibility. But is it only our responsibility? Are we being too exclusive and not allowing open conversation with our peers in sanitation, HR, operations, marketing or business leaders? Perhaps we are not sure how best to communicate the importance of package integrity in preventing recontamination, or swabbing to seek the source of the problem as a topic of interest to our peers. How can we engage others, and have an influence on employees and companies to commit to food safety? We are very interested to help the audience walk away with a toolkit that they can use to connect with various stakeholders in their organization.

    Presenters
    • Akhila Vasan, Moderator Institute for Food Safety and Health, Illinois, USA
    • Neil Coole, Presenter BSI Group, Virginia, USA
    • Lone Jespersen, Presenter Cultivate, Switzerland
    • Linda Smith, Presenter SmithCom, Ontario, Canada
  • Food Safety Culture - Part 1 of 6: How to get Buy-In, Develop Metrics, and Properly Implement

    Sponsored by: the IAFP Foundation
    Organized by: the Food Safety Culture PDG

    This the first in a series of six webinars organized by the Food Safety Culture PDG.

    Building a culture of food safety is important, but how do you do it? In this webinar, attendees will go through a three-part process corresponding to essential, practical measures for developing a culture of food safety: leveraging leadership support, identifying learning needs and corresponding metrics, and strategic roll-out of effective programs.

    Presenters
    • Lone Jespersen, Moderator Cultivate, Switzerland
    • Austin Welch, Presenter Sage Media, Colorado, USA
    • Neil Coole, Presenter BSI, Virginia, USA
    • Richard Fleming, Presenter  Sage Media, Colorado, USA
    • Megan Kenjora, Presenter The Hershey Company, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Making the Most of The Time You Have: Communicating Technical Food Safety Science in a Short Amount of Time

    This webinar will cover how to communicate food safety science to a general audience in a short amount of time. Every scientist has to present complex concepts to a general audience, and understanding how to communicate these concepts clearly and concisely to the general public, a non-scientist co-worker, or even a supervisor is an invaluable skill. This skill is important especially in food safety where scientific discoveries can influence public policy, industry practices, and consumer food safety behaviors. Oral presentations and visuals can be effectively used to facilitate this communication. This webinar seeks to provide useful techniques and insights on how to use both forms of communication effectively to a non-technical audience.

    Presenters
    • Katie Overbey, Moderator Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA
    • Benjamin Chapman, Speaker North Carolina State University, North Carolina, USA
    • Laura Strawn, Speaker Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA
    • Elizabeth Bradshaw, Speaker NC Department of Health, North Carolina, USA
    • Danielle Hennis, Speaker Make It Memorable, North Carolina, USA
  • Science Connections- Accessing Tools to Support Your Literature Review

    Recognizing the value of a well-written literature review is critical to food safety research.  USDA’s National Agriculture Library (NAL) and its Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO) supports students in food safety and food science, as well as the general public domestically and globally.  NAL also partners with the Agriculture Research Service (ARS), scientists and other food scientists to share their research and resources on their approaches and strategies using cutting edge tools to answer pressing research questions.  

    The USDA National Agriculture Library is one of the five national libraries across the United States.  It houses one of the world’s largest collections of agricultural data across eight (8) information centers. In addition, the digital resources include; DigiTop, AGRICOLA (AGRICultural On Line ­Access), NALDC (National Agricultural Library Digital Collections), PubAg, NALT (National Agricultural Library Thesaurus), NAL Internet Archive Collection, Special Collections, Ag Data Commons, Life Cycle Assessment, I5k Workspace @ NAL, VIVO, FoodData Central and the Dr. Dukes Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Database among its key tools.

    The FSRIO is the information center that supports the food science community by collecting, organizing & disseminating data.  Its information products include a food safety research projects database, a food safety research publications feed, and highlights the work of various food scientists in action. The organization also receives guidance from a working group of federal partners with food safety expertise across the USDA. 

    This forum will bring an awareness about the information products available to scientists.  In addition, participants will learn how to utilize search tools and customize their searches to navigate the resources described above.  They will also identify and find research articles that will benefit their work.  Search strategies and customizable tools will be shared as an introduction to the systematic literature review process that can be performed through NAL and FSRIO.

    Presenters
    • Dawanna James-Holly, Moderator USDA, National Agriculture Library
    • Wendy Shaw, Presenter USDA, National Agriculture Library
    • Megan Kocher, Presenter University of Minnesota Libraries
  • What Do I Need to Know Before Submitting Samples for Microbiological Testing?

    Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation

    Food manufacturers, importers and consignees, retail establishments, and other food institutions often rely on third party private laboratories to test finished food, ingredients, in-process materials and/or pathogen and indicator environmental samples.  Samples are submitted for testing for various reasons – compliance with FSMA regulations, USDA-FSIS mandate, or as a requirement for domestic and international trade.  Test results can aid in the verification of the safety of a food product, in the establishment and monitoring of a product’s shelf-stability, and in the verification of the sanitary condition of the post-process production environment.  Every food establishment and food-related entity that is involved in microbiological food testing would need to become familiar with the critical food attributes and sampling techniques than can impact the validity and accuracy of testing results.  This webinar will help food industry professionals gain knowledge on important considerations prior to the submission of test samples for microbial analyses.

    Presenters
    • Rocelle Clavero, Speaker Grab Food Safety Consulting LLC
    • Nancy Thiex, Speaker Thiex Laboratory Solutions LLC
  • Hygienic Sampling: Practical Considerations for the Food Industry

    Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation and Food Safety Microbiology Hygiene

    When one refers to sampling, there are either guidelines providing the statistical representation of the unit sampled vs. the global batch, or consideration for the proper analytical method to be done, its validation and verification process.

    The sample itself is not considered in the process: Who takes the sample? Where along the production process (equipment) is it taken? When during the production shift? How is it done practically?

    Considering the present committee ISO TC34 / SC9 on microbiology: out of the 78 published and 25 under development standards, only one, ISO18593:2018 – “Horizontal methods for surface sampling” provides practical guidelines.

    Most of the QA/QC operations receive samples from the factory and operational teams. They base crucial decisions upon the results. How can we be sure that the putative analytical bias does not come from the sample itself?

    The present webinar will address those points and open discussion, how can we focus more on those practical considerations?

    Presenters
    • François Bourdichon, Speaker & Moderator Food Safety Microbiology Hygiene, France
    • Roy Betts, Speaker Campden BRI, UK
    • Anne Bigalke, Speaker QualiTru, Norway
  • Foodborne Viruses: Detection, Risk Assessment, and Control Options in Food Processing

    Sponsored by: The IAFP Foundation

    Organized by: ILSI Europe and the IAFP Viral and Parasitic Foodborne Disease Professional Development Group

    Description: This webinar will be a presentation of the current science on epidemiology, public health burden and risk assessment for viruses in food processing environments. Current technologies for viral detection and control as well future perspectives on the application, along with suggestions on how the food industry could implement effective control strategies and management options for viruses in foods will be introduced.

    Presenters
    • Elissavet Gkogka, Presenter Arla Foods, Denmark
    • Fabienne Hamon, Presenter bioMérieux, France
    • Sophie Zuber, Presenter Nestlé Research Center, Switzerland
    • Alvin Lee, Moderator Institute for Food Safety and Health, Illinois Institute of Technology, United States
  • The Challenge of Conducting Challenge Tests

    It is the responsibility of food business operators to take measures to ensure that food safety criteria are applicable throughout food production processes, food storage conditions and food preparation. In the case of ready-to-eat and/or perishable food which supports microbial growth, predictive microbiology, literature data or challenge test studies are performed to prove compliance to regulation. In the case a challenge test is deemed necessary, the webinar will provide guidance on how to conduct it properly, based on the recently published standard on challenge testing and the European technical guidance document. This will lead to greater confidence in the control of Listeria monocytogenes and thus to safer food.

    Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation

    Organized by the IAFP

    Presenters
    • Hélène Bergis, Presenter ANSES: French Food Safety Agency
    • Paul in 't Veld, Presenter Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
    • Florence Postollec, Presenter ADRIA
    • Mariem Ellouze, Moderator Nestlé Research Center
  • Handling Food Fraud in e-Commerce - Food Fraud Series Part 5 of 5 
    • This session explores ways of dealing with the risks and intelligence offered by e-Commerce.
    • E-commerce exposes brand owners and retailers to various risks coming with online trading, from misinformation about products to authenticity, parallel trading, and counterfeiting. At the same time, e-commerce is an open and transparent marketplace which can also provide a source of intelligence to manage risks across various supply chains. 
    • The webinar will offer insights about international legal frameworks, different types of risks and explore how technologies help identify and/or allow to massively scan e-retailers and international transactions to intelligently supervise product information which triggers actions to prevent such risks.

    Presenters
    • Lara Miller, Speaker International Anticounterfeiting Coalition
    • Axel Hein, Speaker Apirasol
    • Nicola Colombo, Speaker SGS
  • Emerging Food Categories - Food Fraud Series Part 4 of 5 

    This is fourth in a series of five webinars on implementation of food fraud control systems and best practices. This session explores emerging food categories and markets with a focus on the latest research relating to packaging technology understanding the benefits of anti-counterfeiting techniques. Finally, we will discuss how to manage food fraud risk information for knowledge sharing and traceability with specialized tools and systems.

    Presenters
    • Caroline Francis, Researcher Melbourne University Centre Food Value Chain
    • Nicola Colombo, Global Head SGS Digicomply
    • David Psomiadis, Lab Lead Imprint Analytics
  • Food Safety Practices on U.S. Produce Farms Before FSMA

    Before FSMA's Produce Rule was implemented, USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service surveyed produce growers about their food safety practices. These survey data provide USDA’s first update of national food safety practices since 1999 and since microbial contamination of produce became widely recognized and researched. At the time of the survey, many growers who would be covered by the FSMA Produce Safety Rule (PSR) already had some food safety practices in place. Of these, larger growers had adopted food safety practices at higher rates than smaller growers, and small farms required more changes to meet the PSR standards than large farms.

    Supplemental Documents

    Changes in U.S. produce grower food safety practices from 1999 to 2016

    Food Safety Requirements for Produce Growers: Retailer Demands and the Food Safety Modernization ActEconomic Information Bulletin No. 206

    Presenters
    • Gregory Astill, Speaker USDA Economic Research Service
    • Travis Minor, Speaker USDA Economic Research Service
    • Suzanne Thornsbury, Speaker USDA Economic Research Service
    • Gretchen Wall, Moderator Produce Safety Alliance Coordinator, Cornell University
  • Understanding Types of Food Fraud Risk - Food Fraud Series Part 3 of 5

    Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation

    Organized by the IAFP Food Fraud Professional Development Group

    Food fraud represents a significant potential risk for food firms that is similar to, but different than, traditional food safety or quality risks.  As an intentional act, it does not follow the probabilistic aspects of food safety failures, its deterministic nature represents a different challenge.  It also changes the nature of the scale of risk it represents.  Given new regulations like the Preventive Control Rule, it can represent regulatory risk.  If identified prior to reaching the consumer, it can be more of an operational risk.  If it is not discovered until after it reaches customers or consumers, it can scale from brand/reputational risk to enterprise risk differently than a food safety or quality failure.  This webinar will cover the different types of risk, including examples and provide an overview of risk management strategies to mitigate those risks.

    Presenters
    • Shaun Kennedy, Director and Adjunct Associate Professor The Food System Institute and the University of Minnesota
    • Melanie Neumann, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Neumann Risk Services, A Matrix Sciences Company
  • Applying Behavioral Economics to Model the Threat of Food Fraud

    Sponsored by: Battelle 

    Organized by: IAFP's Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG 

    Description: The food protection community is well-versed in applying mathematical modeling to estimate microbiological growth as part of assessing food safety hazards or estimating shelf life. In contrast, the application of mathematical modeling to estimate threat based on the behavioral trends is a less familiar, yet very relevant concept in food protection as food fraud incidents perpetrated by people rather than microbes impact both consumers and producers. 

    Behavioral economics' Utility theory, which has been used to predict trends ranging from consumer preference to terrorist threat, can be applied to proactively quantity the threat of food fraud to a supply chain based on a range of measurable ingredient characteristics. The concept of modeling human behavior and its application to food protection will be discussed and the specific use case of estimating food fraud will be presented in detail.

    Presenters
    • Dr. Brian Hawkins, Presenter Research Leader and Program Manager, Battelle
    • Dr. Bala Kottapalli, Moderator Senior Principal Microbiologist, Conagra
  • Challenges Identified with Food Fraud Implementation - Part 2 of 5: Risk Mitigation Strategies

    Organized by: Food Fraud PDG

    This is the second in a series of webinars on implementation of food fraud control systems and best practices. This session will focus on three important areas of risk mitigation, beginning with an update on a global project by AOAC to advance the development of analytical methods specific to food fraud. This webinar will also present strategies for effectively managing supplier relationships to reduce the risk of fraud in your supply chain. Finally, new and emerging technologies for traceability and knowledge sharing will be discussed, based on the problem you are trying to solve.

    Presenters
    • Jennifer Lott, Presenter Food Safety and Auditing Technical Manager, SGS North America
    • Amanda Manolis, Presenter Associate Director of Global Brand Marketing, Thermo Fisher Scientific
    • Dr. John Szpylka, Presenter Scientific Affairs Director of Chemistry North America, Merieux NutriSciences
    • Karen Everstine, Moderator Senior Manager of Scientific Affairs, Decernis
  • The Integration of Omics in Microbiological Risk Assessment

    Sponsored by: ILSI Europe

    Organized by: Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG

    Description: Currently, with the possibilities to investigate microorganisms at molecular level, we are experiencing an exciting momentum in which we can exploit this information to better understand the ecology and physiology of foodborne pathogens. Even more intriguing is the possibility to integrate omics data into risk assessment schemes. It is expected that in the next future this will be used to better control pathogenic microorganisms in the food chain.

    After a discussion forum (IAFP Europe 2015), a workshop at IAFP Europe 2016 (co-organized by ILSI Europe, IAFP and ICFMH) a special issue resulted:
    Omics in MRA - the integration of omics in microbiological risk assessment
    International Journal of Food Microbiology 287, Pages 1-40 (20 December 2018)
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-food-microbiology/vol/287/suppl/C

    These papers have the goal to describe the state of the art and create the foundation for a constructive discussion on how to best use, integrate and exploit omics data in MRA. In this webinar the outcome of these paper will be presented.

    Presenters
    • Dr. Heidy den Besten, Presenter Wageningen University
    • Prof. Luca Cocolin, Presenter University of Turin
    • Dr. Annemarie Pielaat, Presenter Unilever
    • Dr. Alejandro Amezquita, Moderator Unilever
  • Challenges Identified with Food Fraud Implementation - Part 1 of 5: A Strategic Approach to Operationalize Food Fraud Mitigation

    Organized by: Food Fraud PDG 

    Description: Part one of a five-part series on "Challenges Identified Over the Past Year with Food Fraud Implementation & Best Practices" - Part 1 of 5: A Strategic Approach to Operationalize Food Fraud Mitigation 


    Food fraud risks are increasing as global supply networks continue to grow in complexity. Concurrently, companies are being inundated with a plethora of publications, resources and recommendations which can be confusing in their application to supply chain management systems. This webinar will capture the current state of food fraud resources, guidance documents and technology solutions. Speakers will also address methods to evaluate the various solutions, review the steps to an effective food fraud mitigation strategy for ingredient supply chains and provide case studies. 

    Presenters
    • Zoe Shuttlewood, Presenter McCormick & Company, EMEA Food Safety & Quality Systems Lead
    • John Spink, Presenter Michigan State University, Food Fraud Initiative, Director & Assistant Professor
    • Brian Bedard, Moderator GMA Science and Education Foundation, Executive Director
  • Selection and Use of Target "Pertinent Pathogen" for Process Validations

    Sponsored by: Low Moisture Foods Pasteurization Alliance 

    Organized by: Low Water Activity Foods PDG

    Description: The speaker will provide an overview of selection and use of target "pertinent pathogen" in process validations.

    1. Describe the important considerations in the selection of pertinent pathogen(s)
    2. Identify key aims in inoculum preparation and inoculation
    3. List variables that affect use of target pathogen(s)
    4. Describe the importance of written detailed standard operating protocols

    Presenters
    • Dr. Elizabeth Grasso-Kelley, Presenter Illinois Institute of Technology
    • Harshavardhan Thippareddi, Moderator University of Georgia
  • Validation of Pathogen Control Technologies for Low-Moisture Foods: Product and Process Considerations

    Sponsored by: Low Moisture Foods Pasteurization Alliance 

    Organized by: Low Water Activity Foods PDG 

    Description: The speakers will provide an overview of product and process parameters to consider when conducting validations for antimicrobial technologies for low moisture (water activity) foods. 

    At the completion of this webinar attendees will be able to…

    • describe the essential steps for a pasteurization validation
    • describe approaches to process validation
    • outline a process validation plan
    • identify critical process and product factors that must be understood, controlled, measured, recorded and documented in a validation report
    Presenters
    • Dr. Nathan Anderson, Presenter FDA
    • Dr. Lisa Lucore, Presenter Shearer's Snacks
    • Harshavardhan Thippareddi, Moderator University of Georgia
  • What's Next Regarding Validation and Verification: Overview of ISO 16140 Series

    Sponsored by: Bruker Daltonics and Q Laboratories

    Organized by: Methods Validation & Verification Interest Group within the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    Description: The ISO 16140 series of standards comprise in total 6 different parts. These standards form a network of validation/verification procedures that offer a complete package for different validation needs.

    ISO 16140 consists of the following parts, under the general title Microbiology of the food chain —
    Method validation:
    — Part 1: Vocabulary
    — Part 2: Protocol for the validation of alternative (proprietary) methods against a reference method
    The following parts are under preparation:
    — Part 3: Protocol for the verification of reference and validated alternative methods implemented in a single laboratory
    — Part 4: Protocol for single-laboratory (in-house) method validation
    — Part 5: Protocol for factorial interlaboratory validation of non-proprietary methods
    — Part 6: Protocol for the validation of alternative (proprietary) methods for microbiological confirmation and typing.

    The links between the different parts are discussed as well as two of almost finalized standards on method verification and validation of confirmation methods and their impact on laboratories.

    Questions and Answers

    Presenters
    • DeAnn Benesh, Presenter 3M Food Safety, USA
    • Paul in't Veld, Presenter Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, Netherlands
    • Daniele Sohier, Presenter Bruker Daltonics, Germany
    • Stephanie Pollard, Moderator Clear Labs
  • Outcomes and Future Work of the AOAC ISPAM Harmonization Project

    Sponsored by: AOAC INTERNATIONAL and Microbiologics

    Organized by: Methods Validation & Verification Interest Group within the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    Description: AOAC INTERNATIONAL formed the International Stakeholder Panel on Alternative Methods (ISPAM) to develop harmonized, internationally accepted standard validation guidelines for alternative (rapid) chemical and microbiological methods by leveraging global networks of experts to reach consensus on an analytical validation protocol. The goal is to achieve optimal efficiency and avoid duplication of efforts in order to meet regulatory and product safety testing requirements. ISPAM as a whole is made up of 60+ member stakeholders comprised of a vetted balanced group and representative stakeholders from industry, government, academia and international organizations, demonstrate stakeholder consensus to approve or not the recommendations of the working groups.

    The global marketplace has put significant pressure on Method Developers to validate their new technologies via several different certification organizations, all of which have their own unique components to consider in a study design, there continues to be a wealth of support across the industry to harmonize across several reference methods, validation guidelines and procedures.

    This session will present the evolution of Harmonized validation guidelines through the ISPAM initiatives, where we are currently aligned and where we need to go from here. Perspectives on what potential activities can be achieved through ISPAM collaborations through global interlaboratory studies and verifications for a more globally representative set of food commodities will also be discussed.

    Presenters
    • DeAnn L. Benesh, Presenter Global Regulatory Affairs Manager, 3M Food Safety
    • Erin Crowley, Presenter Chief Scientific Officer, Q Laboratories
    • Stephanie Pollard, Moderator Clear Labs
  • Low Moisture (Low Water Activity) Foods: Microbiological Safety and Current Regulatory Requirements

    Sponsored by 3M Food Safety

    Organized by the IAFP Low Water Activity Foods Professional Development Group 

    This webinar is part of CAP project funded by USDA NIFA

    The speakers will provide an overview of current food safety issues with low moisture (low water activity) foods and the evolving regulatory requirements for these products in view of the Food Safety Modernization Act. 

    At the completion of this webinar participants will be able to:

    1. Explain the importance of pathogen control for low-moisture foods
    2. Describe regulatory/FSMA requirements
    3. Provide examples of validation pitfalls
    4. Understand how to make a validation acceptable to a regulator
    Presenters
    • Dr. Bradley Marks, Presenter Michigan State University
    • Dr. Nathan Anderson, Presenter FDA
    • Dr. Harshavardhan Thippareddi, Moderator University of Georgia - Professor, Dept. of Poultry Science
  • Are You Fit Enough: What Does "Fit for Purpose" Mean to Me?

    Sponsored by: Eurofins Food Integrity and Innovation (formerly Covance Food Solutions)

    Organized by: The Methods Validation & Verification Interest sub-group of IAFP's Applied Laboratory Methods Professional Development Group (PDG)

    "Fit for purpose" is defined by ISO as the "degree to which data produced by a measurement process enables a user to make technically and administratively correct decisions for a stated purpose". Deciding whether a method is "fit for purpose" for your particular use can be tricky. In this webinar, we will explore what "fit for purpose" means in the real world from three different perspectives: product development, end user, and third-party testing lab.

    Presenters
    • Evan Henke, Presenter 3M
    • Larry Cohen, Presenter TreeHouse Foods
    • David Legan, Presenter Eurofins Food Integrity & Innovation
    • Megan Brown, Moderator Eurofins Food Integrity & Innovation
    • Stephanie Pollard, Moderator Clear Labs
  • ​IAFP Annual Meeting:  How to Develop a Strong Symposium, Roundtable, Workshop, or Abstract Submission

    Organized by the IAFP Program Committee

    Prior to each annual meeting the IAFP Program Committee has the privilege of reviewing and approving proposed symposia, roundtable, workshop and technical abstracts. Following this process, the annual meeting technical content is determined and organized into sessions across the five day meeting.  Along with growth of membership has been a rise in the number of submissions to the Program Committee of which there are defined number which can be accepted.  To enable submitters to maximize their chances of content being accepted, the Program Committee is conducting a webinar describing the review process and the criteria used to accept submissions. 

    View Webinar

    Presenters
    • Renee Boyer Ph.D., Presenter Virginia Tech
    • Heidy den Besten Ph.D., Presenter Wageningen University
    • Mark Moorman Ph.D., Presenter Kellogg Company
    • Manpreet Singh Ph.D., Presenter University of Georgia
  • Overview and Comparison of Global Method Validation Schemes

    Sponsored by Q Laboratories, Inc. and Clear Labs

    Organized by the IAFP Applied Laboratory Methods Professional Development Group

    The development of novel food safety testing methods is a global effort, and as such those methods must conform to a globally diverse set of standards. Choosing a standard is a function of target geographical markets, opportunity, and market demands. This webinar is the 3rd of the webinar series on method validation and verification and will provide an overview of the major global method validation schemes, how they are conducted, if/where they’re harmonizable, and what method developers can do to be ready for them.

    Presenters
    • Patrick M. Bird, Presenter Q Laboratories, Inc.
    • Christopher Haney, Presenter Clear Labs
    • Stephanie Pollard, Moderator Clear Labs
    • Omar Oyarzabal, Moderator University of Vermont
  • Starting Bioinformatics from Zero as a Biologist

    Sponsored by IEH Laboratories & Consulting and the IAFP Student Professional Development Group

    Help! You're a food microbiologist embarking on an RNA or DNA-sequencing project for the first time. Where do you start? What tools should you use? What do all these new terms mean? Can you do this on your laptop? What is Linux, anyway? We'll answer these questions and more in this one-hour webinar meant to provide you with some of the vocabulary and resources you will need to develop a game plan for learning bioinformatics.

    Google drive folder with helpful information: 

    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BlCbje6QsSWqm6TjU3h5MCbLKoVoPoSM

    Presenters
    • Andrea Etter, Presenter Assistant Professor of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Vermont
    • Jessica Chen, Presenter Microbiologist, IHRC Inc.
    • Peter Cook, Presenter Post-Doctoral Researcher, Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia - Griffin
    • Lee Katz, Presenter Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    • Stephanie Brown, Moderator Graduate Research Assistant, University of Connecticut
  • Recommendations for Designing and Conducting Cold-Fill- Hold Challenge Studies for Acidified Foods

    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
    • Regulatory affairs professionals
    • Scientific testing labs
    • Consultants
    • Producers of acidified foods

    Presenters
    • Fred Breidt, Presenter USDA-ARS, Raleigh, NC
    • Barbara H. Ingham, Presenter Professor and Food Safety Extension Specialist, Department of Food Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Elizabeth L. Andress, Moderator Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist, University of Georgia-Athens
  • Listeriosis in South Africa - Lessons Learned

    Listeria monocytogenes outbreak with ready-to-eat meat products in South Africa has been recognized as the largest among the recorded Listeria outbreaks worldwide, with more than 1000 laboratory-confirmed cases (as of May 10) including approximately 200 deaths since the beginning of 2017. Speakers will review the Listeria outbreak in South Africa and share lessons learned in order to mitigate against future outbreaks.

    This webinar is sponsored by Ecolab and hosted by the GMA Science and Education Foundation and the GMA Science and Regulatory Affairs division

    Questions & Answers

    Presenters
    • Peter K. Ben Embarek, Speaker International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) Management, Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses, World Health Organization (WHO)
    • Henk C. den Bakker, Speaker Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia
    • Scott Burnett, Moderator Director of Food Safety and Quality, Global Food and Beverage Division, Ecolab
  • The Role of Water Quality in Food Safety: Does Water Matter? - Part 3: Does Water Quality Matter to My Food Company?

    An initiative of the Water Quality and Safety PDG of the International Association for Food Protection - where people who know and care about what water safety means to food safety gather and share their expertise.

    Part 1 gave the basics of EPA rules, drinking water monitoring, and disinfection.

    Part 2 described what hazards could be in compliant municipal drinking water. 

    Now In Part 3, learn what to do about it!

    First, University of Arizona’s Dr. Chuck Gerba explains the basics of Quantitative  Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) and how to determine your risk profile. EPA’s Ken Rotert highlights which EPA Rules and standards might impact food processing, and how to get information on your water supplier; Dr. Vince Hill of the CDC explains why we don’t hear much about water causing food contamination. Finally, hear valuable advice from Will Daniels, President, Produce Division, IEH Laboratories, with practical approaches to control your risk.

    This webinar is sponsored by the IAFP's Water Safety and Quality PDG, the Microbial Modeling & Risk Analysis PDG & Atlantium Technologies

    Presenters
    • Chuck Gerba, Presenter Professor, Microbiology & Environmental Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Dept., University of Arizona
    • Kenneth Rotert, Presenter Physical Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
    • Vincent Hill, Presenter Chief, Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
    • Will Daniels, Presenter President, Produce Division, IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group
    • Phyllis Butler Posy, Moderator Vice President, Strategic & Regulatory Affairs, Atlantium Technologies
  • Practical Applications of Microbial Modeling Webinar Series: Part III of III

    Sponsored by 
    Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis and Meat and Poultry Safety and Quality PDGs 

    Applications of microbial modeling and risk assessment are critically important to the food industry. This is part III in a webinar series that aims for a deeper-dive into practical considerations in applying modeling tools to inform decisions. Structured around specific food matrices (such as meat and poultry, multi-component foods, and fresh produce), the webinars will focus on examples that may be of practical applications in day-to-day problem-solving.

    Speaker's and Moderator Biographies

    Webinar Slides

    Additional Answers to Questions

    Presenters
    • Betsy Booren Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC
    • Yuhuan Chen FDA CFSAN
    • Tom Ross University of Tasmania.
    • Peter Taormina Etna Consulting Group
    • Marcel Zwietering Wageningen University
    • Bala Kottapalli, Moderator Conagra Brands
  • What are the “Standard Methods” and What Makes Them So Special?

    Sponsored by the University of Vermont and the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    This 60-minute FREE webinar will review the process for the development and revisions of standards by the Food and Drug Administration (Bacteriological Analytical Manual) of the USA and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Comité Européen de Normalisation.

    More than 70 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) standard methods for specific food organisms have been published. This webinar will review the process for the development and revisions of standards by the ISO and CEN. In the United States, unlike the EU where ISO/CEN methods serve as standard reference methods, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) serves as the repository of standard reference methods for the microbiological analysis of all foods other than meat and egg products. This presentation will include a brief history of the BAM, an overview of the methods that it contains, and a description of how methods get into the BAM.

    Paul in’t Veld is working as a food microbiologist for the competent authority in the Netherlands. Active in the standardization of methods at ISO (worldwide) and CEN (European) level. He is the Chair of ISO WG3 on method validation standards (ISO 16140 series).

    Thomas Hammack is a Supervisory Research Microbiologist at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Chair of FDA’s Microbiology Methods Validation Subcommittee, past Chair of FDA’s Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) Council, and a current member of BAM Council. He is active in ISO and AOAC International.

    Presenters
    • Thomas Hammack Food and Drug Administration, USA
    • Paul in’t Veld Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
    • Omar Oyarzabal, Moderator University of Vermont
  • The Role Of Water Quality In Food Safety: Does Water - Part 2: What Could be in Municipal Water?

    Sponsored by Atlantium Technologies and IAFP's Water Safety and Quality PDG 

    This webinar builds upon the regulatory and technological information covered in Part 1, and lays the foundation for how food processors can assess and mitigate risk, covered in Part 3.

    Hear from Dr. Shay Fout, recently retired EPA research microbiologist, about what indicators do and do not indicate, from Arizona State University’s leading researcher Prof. Paul Westerhoff about de-facto reuse, and how wet weather and variability can impact the quality of water used in food production, and from University of Calgary Prof.Norman Neumann for the latest on heat-resistant microbes and what they could mean to food processors.

    This webinar will provide an overview of emerging waterborne hazards that could impact food safety. We will specifically look at data and trends on microbial water quality, from the point of view of food processors that use water in their production processes. Issues addressed include:

    • What microbial hazards could be in incoming water (municipal water or private sources)?
    • What do indicators really indicate? Do they predict presence/absence of microbes of significance to food safety?
    • De facto reuse- when and where does it occur? How does wet weather impact municipal water and what can that mean for organisms of food safety significance?
    • What guarantees do we get from municipal treatment and monitoring?
    • Emerging issues: resistant and viable-but-not-culturable (VBNC) bacteria - what might they mean to food processors? 

    This webinar builds upon the regulatory and technological information covered in Part 1, and lays the foundation for how food processors can assess and mitigate risk, covered in Part 3.

    Hear from Dr. Shay Fout, recently retired EPA research microbiologist, about what indicators do and do not indicate, from Arizona State University’s leading researcher Prof. Paul Westerhoff about de-facto reuse, and how wet weather and variability can impact the quality of water used in food production, and from University of Calgary Prof.Norman Neumann for the latest on heat-resistant microbes and what they could mean to food processors.

    Slides

    Presenters
    • Elisabetta Lambertini. Moderator RTI International
    • Norman Neumann School of Public Health, University of Alberta
    • G. Shay Fout U.S. EPA, National Exposure Research Laboratory
    • Paul Westerhoff Arizona State University
  • The Role Of Water Quality In Food Safety: Does Water Matter? Part 1:  Drinking Water Treatment 2018 Update: Regulations and Technology

    Sponsored by Atlantium Technologies and IAFP's Water Safety and Quality PDG

    Heard lots of conflicting information about how safe your water supply is for use in food processing? Now hear it from the people who know: Ken Rotert of the EPA; Vincent Hill of the CDC; Nicholas Ashbolt of the University of Alberta and hear the industry perspective from Rajendra Gursahaney, Pepsi’s water engineering maven.

    Is all water is treated the same way? Is it always disinfected? What are the compliance standards and do all municipal water suppliers comply? Given the sampling frequency and locations, what do current sampling requirements actually provide? Where do chlorine CT's come from and what log reduction is provided in practice? What do leading companies do?

    This is a great opportunity to hear the straight story about water regulations and what they could mean to your food processing practices. 

    Speaker Biographies

    Presenters
    • Nicholas Ashbolt School of Public Health, University of Alberta
    • Rajendra Gursahaney Pepsi Beverages Company
    • Vincent R. Hill Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    • Kenneth Rotert United States Environmental Protection Agency
    • Phyllis Butler Posy, Moderator Atlantium Technologies
  • Validation, Verification or Just Semantics?

    Sponsored by the University of Vermont and the IAFP Applied Laboratory Methods Professional Development Group.

    Method validation and method verification are two distinct procedures required to comply with ISO/IEC Standard 17025 for a microbiology laboratory accreditation. Unfortunately, the two terms are often used interchangeably with serious consequences. This webinar will not only address the semantics but will also discuss the appropriate analytical and statistical approaches to achieving successful validation and verification studies.

    Presenters
    • Michael Brodsky Consultant
    • DeAnn Benesh 3M Food Safety Department
    • Stephanie Pollard Clear Labs
  • Practical Applications of Microbial Modeling Webinar Series: Part II of III

    Applications of microbial modeling and risk assessment are critically important to the food industry. This is part II in a webinar series that aims for a deeper-dive into practical considerations in applying modeling tools to inform decisions. Structured around specific food matrices (such as meat and poultry, multi-component foods, and fresh produce), the webinars will focus on examples that may be of practical applications in day-to-day problem-solving.

    Sponsored by Q Laboratories
    and
    IAFP Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis and Meat and Poultry Safety and Quality Professional Development Groups

    Speaker and Moderator Biographies

    Webinar Slides

    Questions and Answers

    Presenters
    • Marcel Zwietering Professor, Wageningen University
    • Betsy Booren Senior Policy Advisor, Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC
    • Peter Taormina, Moderator President, Etna Consulting Group
  • Cleaning, Sanitizing and the Seven Steps of Sanitation Webinar - SPANISH VERSION

    Este webinar gratuito de una hora es patrocinado por Ecolab. Los participantes DEBEN registrarse con anticipación. El saneamiento efectivo es fundamental para garantizar la inocuidad de los alimentos, sin embargo, los fundamentos a menudo no son bien comprendidos por los equipos encargados del trabajo y, por lo tanto, la ejecución de los aspectos básicos puede ser un desafío. Empoderar a las brigadas de saneamiento con el conocimiento aplicado necesario para limpiar y desinfectar la planta para que comience la producción es un objetivo clave de la gestión comprometida. El objetivo de este seminario web, con una audiencia específica de equipos de saneamiento en toda la industria, es revisar los conceptos básicos con un enfoque en la diferencia entre la limpieza y la desinfección y los siete pasos del saneamiento húmedo.

    This free one-hour webinar is sponsored by Ecolab. Participants MUST register in advance. Effective sanitation is foundational to ensuring food safety, yet the fundamentals are often not well understood by the teams tasked with the job and therefore executing the basics can be a challenge. Empowering sanitation crews with the applied knowledge needed to clean and sanitize the plant for production to commence is a key goal of engaged management. The aim of this webinar, with a targeted audience of sanitation teams across the industry, is to review the basics with a focus on the difference between cleaning and sanitizing and the seven steps of wet sanitation. This Webinar presentation will be given in Spanish.

    Presenters
    • Frank De La Guardia Venzal, Presenter Ecolab
    • Andrea Ray, Moderator Purdue University
  • Cleaning, Sanitizing and the Seven Steps of Sanitation Webinar

    This free one-hour webinar is sponsored by Ecolab. Participants MUST register in advance.

    Effective sanitation is foundational to ensuring food safety, yet the fundamentals are often not well understood by the teams tasked with the job and therefore executing the basics can be a challenge. Empowering sanitation crews with the applied knowledge needed to clean and sanitize the plant for production to commence is a key goal of engaged management. The aim of this webinar, with a targeted audience of sanitation teams across the industry, is to review the basics with a focus on the difference between cleaning and sanitizing and the seven steps of wet sanitation.

    Presenters
    • Scott Burnett, Presenter Ecolab, Inc.
    • Vanessa Cranford, Moderator U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Practical Applications of Microbial Modeling Webinar Series: Part I of III

    Applications of microbial modeling and risk assessment are critically important to the food industry. This webinar series aims for a deeper-dive into practical considerations in applying modeling tools to inform decisions. Structured around specific food matrices (such as meat and poultry, multi-component foods, and fresh produce), the webinars will focus on examples that may be of practical applications in day-to-day problem-solving.

    Questions and Answers

    Presenters
    • Dr. Tom Ross University of Tasmania
    • Dr. Peter Taormina Etna Consulting Group
    • Dr. Betsy Booren, Moderator Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, and Matz
  • Contamination Control and Decontamination of Low Moisture Food Processing Facilities Using Chlorine Dioxide Gas

    This presentation will discuss the chlorine dioxide gas fumigation method of sanitation within low water activity food processing facilities. Chemical properties, disadvantages of traditional sanitation, and a case study will be presented.

    Presenters
    • Kevin Lorcheim ClorDiSys Solutions, Inc.
  • Assessment of Microbial Risk for Fresh Produce

    The purpose of this webinar is to provide some background of the issues that growers of fresh produce face while doing a formal risk assessment and to offer a practical approach to assess the risk. This webinar presents the considerations from a recent ILSI Europe paper (Monaghan et al., 2017) that suggests an easy ‘Growers Risk Assessment’ tool and the practical application of assessment of the risk for fresh produce (Danyluk et al., unpublished). The webinar also provides a platform for discussion and serves as a basis for further round table discussions proposed at IAFP's European Symposium on Food Safety 2018 and IAFP’s Annual Meeting 2018.

    This webinar is sponsored by ILSI Europe

    Presenters
    • Roy Betts Campden BRI
    • Michelle Danyluk University of Florida
    • Belén Márquez García International Life Sciences Institute, Europe (ILSI Europe)
    • Jim Monaghan Fresh Produce Research Centre at Harper Adams University (HAU)
    • Marcel Zwietering University of Wageningen
  • Combating Pests in Food Processing Environments: New Tools and Tactics

    This FREE 60-minute webinar features speakers Jerry Heath from the Industrial Fumigant Company and Dr. Jim Campbell from USDA-ARS, who will discuss the operational aspects of pest management monitoring and current research in the field, as well as new pest management tools and techniques.

    This webinar is sponsored by Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC).

  • The Hygienic Design of Food Industry Cleaning Brushes

    This Webinar will present the finding of an investigation into the hygienic design of food industry cleaning brushware and the development of a new hygienically designed brushware option. (short description)

    Many food manufacturers appreciate the benefits of hygienically designed production equipment as it is quicker and easier to clean, and minimises the risk of product cross-contamination. However, when it comes to food industry cleaning equipment, very few are developed with good hygienic design in mind. Both the FSSC 22000 and BRC issue 7 Global food safety standards state that cleaning equipment should be 'hygienically designed', but what determines whether a piece of cleaning equipment meets this requirement? and what can be done to ensure that hygienic design is incorporated into cleaning equipment in the future? This Webinar will present the finding of an investigation into the hygienic design of food industry cleaning brushware and the development of a new hygienically designed brushware option.

    Presenters
    • Debra Smith Global Hygiene Specialist at Vikan
  • Eliminate Harborage Sites and Growth Niches with Chlorine Dioxide Gas

    This presentation will discuss the chlorine dioxide gas fumigation method of sanitation. Chemical properties, disadvantages of traditional sanitation, and a case study will all be presented. Sponsored:

    This webinar is sponsored by ClorDiSys Solutions, Inc.

    Presenters
    • Kevin Lorcheim ClorDiSys Solutions, Inc.
  • Environmental Monitoring "Best Practices"

    Environmental Monitoring is more than just sampling and reporting results. Its responsibility is to move the establishment along a journey from the “Awareness Stage” to the “Predictive Stage.” Food Safety Management must create and cultivate a company culture that promotes preventative action. The continuous improvement pathway is marked with proven best practices.

    Presenters
    • Dr. John Butts President of Food Safety By Design, LLC and Advirsor to CEO at Land O'Frost
  • Dose-Response for Listeria monocytogenes presented by Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis (MMRA) Professional Development Group (PDG)

    The relationship between the number of ingested Listeria monocytogenes cells in food and the likelihood of developing listeriosis is not well understood. Various dose-response models, based on animal models, outbreak data or epidemiological date are currently available. During this webinar, we’ll recall the specific difficulties in deriving a dose-response for Listeria monocytogenes and describing the various models that are currently developed and used. We’ll present the unique data FDA obtained from recent outbreaks and explain if and how they helped our knowledge of this dose-response.

    Presenters
    • Régis Pouillot Visting Scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
    • Fernando Perez Rodriguez Professor, University of Córdoba (Spain)
  • Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG presents: China's Food Safety System In the Year Of The Rooster

    Dozens of Chinese food laws and regulations have been revised or newly adopted, and hundreds of mandatory national food safety standards have been amended and updated. (short description)
    2016 may have been the Year of the Monkey, but the Chinese authorities were not monkeying around with the food industry, as they continued to reshape and tighten the regulatory reins on China's food safety management system. As a result, dozens of food laws and regulations have been revised or newly adopted, and hundreds of mandatory national food safety standards have been amended and updated. This presentation will describe highlights of these. (extended description) 

    Presenters
    • Dr. Zhinong Yan Food Safety Director for Ecolab AsiaPacific
  • Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG presents: Effective Swabbing for ATP & AMP For Better Hygiene

    Quantifying Sanitation: The sensitivity of ATP+AMP detection , and its relation with patents to calculate RLU as reference for level of hygiene ( DIN 10124:2009-12), with comparisons to ATP only detection and other protein detection systems.

    Presenters
    • Atef W. Idriss MEFOSA
    • Youmna Iskandarani MEFOSA
  • MMRA PDG presents Modeling in Foods: Kinetics and Tools

    Modeling kinetics in primary models, secondary models, and tertiary models involve microbiology, kinetics, mathematics, statistics, and tools. These aspects will be illustrated and examples of the tools IPMP and Baseline will be shown.

    Presenters
    • Lihuan Huang USDA Agricultural Research Service
    • Antonio Valero Díaz University of Cordoba
  • The Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG presents BIOFILM & FOOD SAFETY

    This presentation will discuss the nature of biofilm formation in general and the effects that growth in a biofilm can have on bacterial cells and their resistance to inactivation using traditional sanitation treatments. 

    Biofilm formation in food processing facilities enhances the ability of pathogens to survive harsh environments, to resist antimicrobial treatments, and to spread and persist in the food processing environment. Thus, the formation of biofilms is a food safety concern since persistent low-level contamination of foods can occur, and is reported to be one of the main factors in failure of sanitation treatments to remove or inactivate human pathogens on produce surfaces.



    Presenters
    • Dr. Bassam Annous United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research ServiceEastern Regional Research Center (USDA-ARS-ERRC)
  • Applied Laboratory Methods PDG Presents: Complexity of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli Strains in Flour – Implications on Testing Procedures
  • Draft Listeria monocytogenes Guidance and Legal Implications

    Hosted by the
    Alliance for Listeriosis Prevention and the International Association for Food Protection

    Jenny Scott's Slides

    Maile Hermida's Slides

    Presenters
    • Jenny Scott FDA
    • Maile Hermida Hogan Lovells
  • Clean in Place- Addressing Key Principals of Design/Operation and Dispelling the Myths of CIP

    This webinar discussed key principles - Many of which are often overlooked such as sanitary design- components that are not CIPable and effective inspection technique.

    Presenters
    • Evan Rosen, V.P. Food Safety and Quality Assurance PacMoore
  • Mycotoxin Prevention and Control: Food Processing Mitigation Strategies

    This webinar is organized by ILSI Europe and The International Association for Food Protection. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi that significantly affect the quality, safety and yield of important crops for food and feed. The webinar will introduce options to optimize food processing in order to reduce mycotoxin contamination of food and feed.

    Speaker Abstracts

    Presenters
    • Michele Suman Barilla Spa, Food Safety & Sensomics Research Manager
    • Isabelle Oswald INRA, ToxAlim, Research Center in Food Toxicology
    • Johan De Meester Cargill, Senior Advisor Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, Corporate Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory team for Europe, the Middle East, & Africa
  • Modeling Variability and Uncertainty in Risk Assessment: a Case Study of Salmonella in Low-water Activity Foods and its Use in Decision Making

    Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis Professional Development Group Presents: Modeling Variability and Uncertainty in Risk Assessment: a Case Study of Salmonella in Low Water Activity Foods and its Use in Decision Making. The presence, survival and heat resistance of Salmonella in low-water activity foods is affected by many factors including environmental, processing and those inherent to the pathogen. The estimated risk of salmonellosis from consumption of these products is influenced by these factors as well as consumption patterns, production volume and population numbers. Variability in the value of each factor affects the risk of illness whereas uncertainty in the knowledge of each factor affects the risk estimate. The aim of this webinar is to provide an overview of strategies for incorporating variability and uncertainty in quantitative risk assessment models for Salmonella in low-water activity foods and describe the utility of doing so for the decision maker.

    Presenters
    • Sofia Santillana Farakos
    • Regis Pouillot
    • Jenny Scott
  • Listeria monocytogenes: Are Current Industry Practices Meeting Existing and Future Challenges, Part 2.

    The GMA Science and Education Foundation and JIFSAN conducted a Workshop on Evaluation of Risk Factors for Foodborne Listeriosis in 2015. 

    Part 1 was recorded December 11, 2015 and is available in the Webinar Archives.

    Part 2 of this webinar series will focus on industry management practices. Presenters will share their experiences and strategies for managing Listeria monocytogenes, including:

    • Introduction/Industry challenges in management of Listeria
    • Open questions from risk managers
    • Understanding product risk
    • How we manage Listeria , Meat /Cheese, Frozen Products, Dry Products

    This webinar is sponsored by GMA Science and Education Foundation.

    Presenters
    • Jennifer McEntire, Ph.D. Vice President, Science Operations, Grocery Manufacturers Association
    • Tim Jackson, Ph.D. Director of Food Safety, Nestle North America
    • Reid Ivy, Ph.D. Manager Food Safety - Cheese and Dairy, The Kraft Heinz Company
    • Deann Akins-Lewenthal, Ph.D. Director of Microbiology & Food Safety, ConAgra Foods
    • Scott Hood, Ph.D. Director of Global Food Safety, General Mills
  • The Global Burden of Foodborne Disease - Results and perspectives of WHO’s Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG)

    The WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group is providing estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases, according to age, sex and region, for a defined list of causative agents of microbial, parasitic, and chemical origin, thereby strengthening the capacity of countries to assess the burden of foodborne disease and increasing awareness and commitment for the implementation of food safety standards. These estimates provide valuable information for food safety professionals.

    This webinar is sponsored by Wageningen University, Marcel Zwietering, Leon Gorris, Arie Havelaar and an anonymous MMRA PDG Member.

    Webinar Slides

    View Webinar

    Presenters
    • Arie Hendrik Havelaar Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida
    • Marcel Zwietering, Moderator Wageningen University
  • Listeria monocytogenes – Are Current Industry Practices Meeting Existing and Future Challenges?

    Presented include Dr. Robert Buchanan, JIFSAN, Dr. Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University, and Dr. Daniel Gallagher, Virginia Tech, Dr. Tim Jackson, Nestle, N.A. and Dr. Scott Hood, General Mills. The GMA Science and Education Foundation and JIFSAN conducted a Workshop on Evaluation of Risk Factors for Foodborne Listeriosis in June 2015.  This webinar will cover the highlights of the workshop in order to inform the food industry about current challenges regarding Listeria monocytogenes including the most recent advances in science, new thoughts about risk assessment, and what industry should be doing in order to address these challenges.

    Sponsored by GMA

    Presenters
    • Robert Buchanan, Ph.D. JIFSAN
    • Daniel Gallagher, Ph.D. Virginia Tech.
    • Scott Hood, Ph.D. General Mills
    • Tim Jackson, Ph.D. Nestle NA
    • Martin Wiedmann, Ph.D. Cornell University
    • Melinda Hayman, Moderator GMA
  • "FDA’s Proposed FSMA Produce Rule" Webinar - Learn from the Experts

    International Association for Food Protection teamed up with the United Fresh Produce Association to bring together this webinar providing details about the FDA’s proposed Produce Rule under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The webinar offers insights and analysis of the draft FSMA rules from the FDA, university experts, food safety leaders and legal counsel.

    Co-hosted by the International Association for Food Protection and United Fresh Produce Association

    Organized by the Fruit and Vegetable Safety and Quality PDG

    Presenters
    • Dr. James Gorny Senior Advisor, Office of Food Safety, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)
    • David Durkin Legal Counsel, OFW Law
  • Cleaning and Sanitation Validation: What Does Clean Look Like?

    There are many different standards of clean and what is "clean" for one food operation may not be "clean" for another. This webinar presented empirical ways to measure the cleanliness of surfaces. Tests that can be used to evaluate soil and microbial levels on surfaces will be discussed. The strengths and weaknesses of the various tools available to evaluate the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation programs will be presented. An adequately designed sampling program is as important as the methods used to test the surfaces, therefore this webinar will discussed the elements of a sound sampling program.

    Organized by the Food Hygiene & Sanitation PDG.

    Due to technical issues during the presentation, this webinar was not recorded. However, the presenter provided the slide presentation for those who are interested. Click below to view the slides.

    Presenters
    • Dr. P.C. Vasavada Professor of Food Science, University of Wisconsin River Falls
  • The Food Safety Modernization Act

    The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act has passed the US Congress and is expected to be signed by the President.  Caroline Smith DeWaal, who has spent years in working toward passage of a food safety bill, provides an overview of the bill

    Organized by the Food Law PDG.

    Presenters
    • Caroline Smith DeWaal Food Safety Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
  • Infrared Spectroscopy and Imaging for the Classification of Whole Bacteria Cells and Detection of DNA Microarrays

    Organized by the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    Presenters
    • Magdi M. Mossoba
  • Detection of Food Allergens: Current Analytical Methods and Future Needs

    Organized by the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    Presenters
    • Lauren Jackson
  • Campylobacter spp. in Foods and Their Implications for Public Health

    Organized by the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

    Presenters
    • Omar A. Oyarzabal
  • Challenges and Improvement Opportunities in the Cleaning and Sanitation of Equipment in Dry Food Processing Environments

    This webinar addresses conditions that favor microbial growth and dispersion in the processing environment with emphasis on sites of contamination associated with food processing equipment. Approaches to elimination of those conditions are described as well as approaches that have been or could be considered to eliminate or otherwise control microbes isolated from such sites.

    Organized by the Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG.

    Presenters
    • Jeff Kornacki, Ph.D Kornacki Microbiology Solutions, Inc
  • Challenges with Wet Cleaning

    This presentation focuses on wet sanitation of equipment requiring disassembly. The Webinar is an overview of the process. Key points cover the critical factors of Sanitation Process Control. Principles of Sanitary Equipment Design as well as Sanitary Facility Design are covered. Investigative techniques such as the "Seek and Destroy Process," "Timed Studies" and "Swat Team" sampling are covered.

    Organized by the Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG.

    Presenters
    • Dr. John Butts VP of Research Land O'Frost
  • Sanitation - Back to Basics

    It is well established that sanitation is the most critical part of any food safety program. Indeed, a significant proportion of high profile foodborne illness outbreaks can be linked to failures in sanitation. In this presentation the history of sanitation and evolution of regulations will be covered. An overview on how to develop a sanitation plan and approaches to verify the efficacy of sanitation is discussed. The range of sanitizing methods (physical, chemical and biological) available is described and how to select the most appropriate approach for specific applications outlined. Finally, future trends in plant sanitation and hand washing technologies are provided.

    Organized by the Food Hygiene and Sanitation PDG.

    Presenters
    • Dr Keith Warriner Assoc Prof. Dept of Food Science University of Guelph
  • Clostridium Perfringens

    Organized by the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG.

    Presenters
    • Dr. Keith Schneider Professor, University of Florida
    • Dr. Vijay Juneja Lead Scientist, USDA-ARS-ERRC
  • Assuring Safety of Imported Foods: Public and Private Roles in Risk-Based System - Food Safety Legislation

    Organized by the Food Law PDG.

    Presenters
    • Caroline Smith DeWaal Int'l Food Safety Policy Manager, FDA CFSAN
  • Use of Predictive Microbiology Information Portal, the USDA-Pathogen Modeling Program and ComBase

    Organized by the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG.

    Presenters
    • Dr. Vijay Juneja USDA-ARS-ERRC