[Industry Events] Food Safety Summit

Food safety has long been a key focus of the food industry, but it has gained a higher public profile in recent years, with increased attention from media, consumers and regulators and a heightened focus on the entire food supply chain, domestic and global. As such, the 2010 Food Safety Summit is focusing its schedule around four pillars of food safety:

• Regulatory Environment—the new administration and current activities;
• Global Perspectives—strategic focus and harmonization;
• Retail/Food Service—challenges in increased regulation and execution of best practices;
• Emerging Issues—identifying challenges and opportunities for change.

The 12th Annual Food Safety Summit, owned and operated by BNP Media, will be held April 12-14 at the Washington D.C. Convention Center. The three-day event features educational seminars, industry and government keynote speakers, workshops, networking events and a trade show exhibition. The Summit will also offer Serv-Safe training on the Sunday and Monday prior to the start of the regular sessions.

The four educational pillars were recog-nized by the Summit’s Executive Education Advisory Committee to be hot topics in food safety across the food chain, thus creating a strong basis for the educational sessions, said Emily Patten, Director, Tradeshows & Conferences for BNP.

This integrated food-chain focus is a shift from the track format of past Summits. "Food safety problems cross the food supply chain. They are not limited to specific segments," Patten said. Thus, the goal was to bring together participants from the various segments to interact and jointly discuss issues and solutions.

The change is also a result of insights from previous years’ sessions, added Education Director Laurie Lehmann. "As people started to get involved in discussion, they said, ‘Just because I am retail or laboratory doesn’t mean my issues and problems don’t start somewhere else up the supply chain,’" she said. "All issues have effects on all segments of the supply chain."

But the Summit has not wavered from the central theme used in recent years:
Everyday Heroes. "We still believe the attendees are the heroes who are saving lives every day," Patten said. "If food goes bad, people die. These are the people that prevent that."

This year’s keynote speakers are:

• Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods, FDA. Taylor will speak on "Food Safety and the FDA," including current activities of the FDA and the significance and importance of these to the various food sectors. Newly named to his FDA position in January (see News, page 8), Taylor has worked in academic and research settings and the private sector, and has served previous FDA and USDA posts.

• Mike Robach, Vice President, Corporate Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs, Cargill, Inc. Robach will present "Global Food Safety Systems," discussing the strategic importance of global systems and the need for harmonization of food safety standards. Robach leads Cargill’s global food safety and regulatory affairs programs, and held previous career positions with Monsanto Company and Wayne Farms.

The Summit is also increasing its electronic communications prior to, during, and after the show, through its LinkedIn group: Food Safety Summit Professional Network, on which Patten intends to pub-lish the educational topics prior to the Summit to promote discussion and provide speakers with insights to attendees' wants and needs.

The group is also sending a series of e-newsletters outlining the particulars of the Summit. To be added to this list, email info@foodsafetysummit.com with the subject line: Event Newsletter—to be added.

Summit registration and further information are available online at www.foodsafetysummit.com.