The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting

The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting just wrapped up last week. If you have never been to this conference or have missed attending in the past couple of years, get it back on your schedule! IAFP is committed to Advancing Food Safety Worldwide. With membership hovering a little over 3,000, this group has a broad mix of food/beverage and government professionals as well as academics.

Of all the food safety/microbiology conferences I attend, this one consistently has the hottest topics led by the top industry experts followed up with regulatory perspectives ~ there’s nothing like hearing it straight from the FDA or USDA.

Unfortunately all it takes is an outbreak or two to bring on a great symposium. With this summer’s Escherichia coli 0104 outbreak in Europe, a smattering of other non-O157 Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) outbreaks, continued produce outbreaks, and the recent passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), many of the sessions were filled to capacity with attendees straining outside the doors to get in. Yes, this was a food safety conference not a Rolling Stones concert. Some of the topics included:

• E. coli O104 outbreak in Europe: European colleagues spoke about the outbreak epidemiology, microbiology of the virulence factors, and types of detection methods (many!) with a follow up on the industry perspective and media angle.

• Environmental Testing and Mandatory Reporting: A robust environmental sampling program that looks at a mix of product contact, close product contact and non-product contact areas is a must for a food plant. Test, be aware and take action.

• Risks and Benefits of Bisphenyl A (BPA): The issue was examined by industry experts in regards to food packaging by with follow-up from the FDA. Since FDA has the final word, it was informative to hear the regulatory perspective.

At the exhibit hall, there was lots of activity and interest in cost-effective, fast and molecular based pathogen screening systems. DNA-based or RNA-based targeting systems providing real-time PCR are all the rage. This is the technology currently taking us to the next information horizon. Gone are the days (or soon gone are the days) of pathogen results in a couple of days… Well, we still need a day to enrich samples but after that it is results within hours. Although I think a wet mount of Listeria spp. is a beautiful thing to watch and don’t get me started on the splendor of Salmonella on chromogenic media.

See you next year’s meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.

- Jena Roberts