Food Safety Consortium Provides Unlimited Training Opportunities
By Laurel Maloy, contributing writer, Food Online
The multi-conference venue is a one-stop location for just about anything and everything having to do with food safety
FSMA’s implementation over the next several years is the hot topic at food company’s water coolers across the nation. This new culture of prevention — opposed to reacting to the aftermath — will be under the spotlight as a model for global food safety. Food processors have a responsibility to not only ensure the safest possible food supply within our borders, but to set a positive example for food-safety experts around the world. As such, transparency, information-sharing, and networking are all essential to FSMA’s success.
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The USDA and the FDA have taken a very un-governmental position in order to ensure FSMA’s successful and widely-accepted implementation. Continual communication with both the public and private food-industry sectors has resulted in food-safety rules that are appropriate, applicable, and enforceable. Kudos must go out to these agencies and the personnel who have been working so diligently to not just enact another piece of legislation, but to create the safest possible food-supply system in the world. Continuing education is ensuring a smooth transition, while also providing food processors with the tools necessary for compliance.
The Food Safety Consortium is one more tool in an ever-growing arsenal, such as the ALERT Food Defense Awareness Program, the Food Defense 101 Program, and others being made available to all who hold a vested interest in safe food production. The consortium’s opening plenary session will include formal presentations, followed by a town-hall type of forum allowing for further discussions of the issues at hand. Speakers for the opening session will be:
- Roberta Wagner, Deputy Center Director for Regulatory Affairs, FDA
- Palmer Orlandi, Ph.D. CAPT. Sr. Science Advisor, Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine, FDA
- Denise Eblen, Ph.D., Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Public Health Science, FSIS, USDA.
Additional plenary presentations and panel discussions will cover topics such as: FSMA updates presented by people in-the-know, capacity building in reference to international food safety, the current food-safety culture, and the future of food safety.
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Additionally, food-processing professionals can pick and choose from numerous conferences, training opportunities, and workshops available. More than 75 food-safety professionals from small to medium enterprises (SMEs) will be presenting and facilitating more than 15 concurrent events. In addition to favorites from the previous years, this consortium will have these 10 new conferences and workshops:
- Advanced GFSI workshop
- Developing a Robust Foreign Material Prevention and Detection Program workshop
- Environmental Monitoring workshop
- Foodservice & Retail Food Safety conference
- Food Labs conference
- Integrated Pest Management for Food Manufacturers workshop
- Integrated Pest Management for Foodservice & Retailers workshop
- Preventative Controls workshop
- Safe Quality Food Institute (SQF) Implementation case history workshop
- USDA Food Safety Reform workshop
Also, new for this year’s consortium will be the “Ask the Experts” discussion groups which cover such topics as audit readiness, the role social media plays in food safety, and the issue of hand-washing versus productivity. From assessing your facility in order to protect your brand, to supplier qualification and management, this is the place to learn anything and everything having to do with food safety. It is also the ideal venue in which to meet like-challenged professionals within the food-processing industry.
Team discounts are available and by registering early your facility can also save. Any opportunity for learning should be assessed in terms of how it can benefit your establishment. With FSMA’s roll-out and the FDA’s newfound authority, now may be the appropriate time to invest in the future of your operation.