Are you ready to share your knowledge, experience or research with fellow food safety and quality assurance professionals? Food Safety Tech is requesting abstracts for the 11th Annual Food Safety Consortium, which will take place October 16-18, 2023, at the Hilton in Parsippany, New Jersey.
We are accepting abstracts for educational presentations, panel discussions and Posters for a new Poster Session. All abstracts, which are due by March 31, will be judged based on the educational value.
Presented by Food Safety Tech, the Food Safety Consortium is a business-to-business conference that brings together food safety and quality assurance professionals for education, networking and discussion geared toward solving the key challenges facing the food safety industry today.
In addition to two full days of high-level panel discussions, this year’s program will include a second Food Safety Hazards track. These “Boots on the Ground” sessions build on the success of Food Safety Tech’s virtual Food Safety Hazards program by providing two days of education on the detection, mitigation, control and regulation of key pathogen, pest, chemical and physical food hazards.
Also new this year is a strategic co-location with the Cannabis Quality Conference, as well as several pre-conference workshops to be held on October 16, including:
Advanced Listeria Workshop
Food Safety Recalls Workshop
Food Safety Auditor Re-certification Training
Infused Products Workshop
Registration Opening Soon!
“We are bringing two great conferences together under one roof,” says Rick Biros, president of Innovative Publishing and director of the Food Safety Consortium. “The Food Safety Consortium will continue its strategic meeting of the minds format, but we are complementing that with the practical, boots-on-the-ground Food Safety Hazards track. Co-location with the CQC allows attendees to take advantage of additional education on product testing and quality assurance in the burgeoning cannabis market, as well as preconference workshops delving into infused product safety and compliance that will appeal to both food safety and cannabis professionals.”
For sponsorship and exhibitor inquiries, contact RJ Palermo, Director of Sales. Stay tuned for registration and early bird specials.
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has become a powerful tool to track the origins of foodborne illness, but if industry views WGS simply as a tool for regulators, it is missing out on a valuable instrument to improve food safety within its facilities. Join Fabien Robert, head of zone AMS for Nestlé Quality Assurance centres, and Food Safety Tech on April 3-5 at Ohio State University, as we take a closer look at:
Fabien Robert
How WGS can help industry mitigate food safety risks and enhance root cause analysis
How to use WGS in your operations to improve food safety
The Food Safety Tech’s Hazards Conference + CFI Think Tank brings together leading minds in industry and academia for two days of practical education on the detection, mitigation, control and regulation of key food hazards, followed by discussion geared toward identifying gaps for research and innovation.
Charles Giambrone, Food Safety Manager, Rochester Midland
Giambrone received his M.S. degree in Microbiology from Rutgers University in 1978, where his research focus was applied and environmental microbiology. In his current and previous roles as VP & Sr. Technical Support Manager for Rochester Midland Corp, he provides applied research and technical support in the whole area of food safety and sanitation including processing and preparation, membrane cleaning, and water treatment systems plus supervision of R & D projects. Giambrone has a broad and in-depth expertise in the areas of hygiene, disinfection, and biocides. This includes working with systems to remove or prevent biofilm formation in food processing and water system lines as well as other applications.
The USDA’s Proposed Approach to Salmonella Control in Poultry Products
Sandra Eskin, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA
Sandra Eskin leads the Office of Food Safety at the USDA, overseeing the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which has regulatory oversight for ensuring that meat, poultry and egg products are safe, wholesome and accurately labeled. Prior to joining USDA, Eskin was the Project Director for Food Safety at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C. She also served as the Deputy Director of the Produce Safety Project (PSP), a Pew-funded initiative at Georgetown University from 2008-2009.
RTE Meats and Ice Cream – Mitigating Listeria Risks & Responding to Contamination
Stacy Vernon is the Food Safety and Operations Program Manager at CIFT, where she works alongside food manufactures of all sizes to help them achieve their food safety goals and objectives. She delivers business solutions and technical expertise to her clients as they work towards achieving, maintaining and improving their regulatory and third party food safety certification compliance. Stacy has over 15 years of experience in the food and beverages industry as prior to joining CIFT in 2016, she worked in food safety and quality assurance management roles for Smithfield Foods, Inc. and Rudolph Foods Company.
Janet Buffer, Center for Foodborne Illness & Prevention, OSU
Janet Buffer’s expertise spans across multidisciplinary medical and clinical research centers, higher education institutions, extension agencies, and regulatory departments. Throughout her 28-year professional career, Janet has served in various capacities; relentlessly utilizing her unique skill sets and ability to connect with students and consumers, to thoroughly educate and actively train those around her. She has spearheaded food safety information accuracy efforts and prioritized food production and food safety regulatory compliance in the healthcare and business spheres above all else. All the while, advising and aiding in corporate administration and the improvement of food technologies.
Application of Ozone for Decontamination of Fresh Produce
Al Baroudi, Ph.D., Vice President of Quality Assurance & Food Safety, The Cheesecake Factory
In addition to his current role, Dr. Baroudi has conducted workshops, published White Papers and introduced the HACCP program to developing countries on behalf of the U.S. government. He is the recipient of Borden’s “President Award”, the Sani “Food Safety Champion Award”, and the “Outstanding Food Safety Program Innovation Award,” and the Southern California IFT “Distinguished Achievement Award.” In 2022, NR News named, Dr. Baroudi as one of the top 50 most influential restaurant executives in the country, and The NRA presented him their inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for “Outstanding Leader in Food Safety.” He was instrumental in passing the Food Facilities Sanitization Bill “AB 1427” in the California State Assembly that cleared the way for the ozone to be approved in California Cal Code (2012).
Ahmed Yousef, Ph.D., Department of Food Science & Technology, Ohio State University
Dr. Yousef earned his Ph.D. in Food Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before joining Ohio State as an Assistant Professor in 1991. Since the late 1990s, Dr. Yousef and his research team have worked to develop methods to pasteurize shell eggs and to decontaminate fresh produce while maintaining products’ fresh qualities. His ozone research led to developing methods to decontaminate spinach, apples, and other fresh produce. As a result of this research, Dr. Yousef established the largest ozone research laboratory in the U.S. at Ohio State.
The Food Safety Consortium, now in its 11th year, will take place October 16-18, 2023, at the Hilton in Parsippany, New Jersey. Presented by Food Safety Tech, the Consortium is a business-to-business conference that brings together food safety and quality assurance professionals for education, networking and discussion geared toward solving the key challenges facing the food safety industry today.
In addition to the two full days of high-level panel discussions, this year’s program will include a second Food Safety Hazards track. These “Boots on the Ground” sessions build on the success of Food Safety Tech’s virtual Food Safety Hazards program by providing two days of education on the detection, mitigation, control and regulation of key pathogen, pest, chemical and physical food hazards.
Also new this year is a strategic co-location with the Cannabis Quality Conference (CQC). Presented by Cannabis Industry Journal, CQC is a business-to-business conference and expo where cannabis industry leaders and stakeholders meet to build the future of the cannabis marketplace. Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in pre-conference workshops designed to address safety and compliance in cannabis edibles on October 16.
“We are bringing two great conferences together under one roof,” says Rick Biros, president of Innovative Publishing and director of the Food Safety Consortium. “The Food Safety Consortium will continue its strategic meeting of the minds format, but we are complementing that with the practical, boots-on-the-ground Food Safety Hazards track. Co-location with the CQC allows attendees to take advantage of additional education on product testing and quality assurance in the burgeoning cannabis market, as well as preconference workshops delving into infused product safety and compliance that will appeal to both food safety and cannabis professionals.”
All of these events will take place October 16-18, 2023, at the Hilton in Parsippany, New Jersey.
If you would like to present at the Food Safety Consortium, please submit abstracts here.
For sponsorship and exhibit inquiries, contact RJ Palermo, Director of Sales. Stay tuned for registration and early bird specials.
About The Food Safety Consortium Organized by Food Safety Tech, the Food Safety Consortium Conference has been providing education and networking for Food Protection professionals since 2012. The conference focuses on food safety, food integrity and food defense as the foundation of the educational content of the program. With a unique focus on science, technology, best practices and compliance, the Consortium features critical thinking topics that have been developed for both industry veterans and knowledgeable newcomers.
About Food Safety Tech
Food Safety Tech is a digital media community for food industry professionals interested in food safety and quality. We inform, educate and connect food manufacturers and processors, retail & food service, food laboratories, growers, suppliers and vendors, and regulatory agencies with original, in-depth features and reports, curated industry news and user-contributed content, and live and virtual events that offer knowledge, perspectives, strategies and resources to facilitate an environment that fosters safer food for consumers.
Supply chain management is becoming more and more relevant to small and entrepreneurial food businesses, particularly related to FSMA requirements that are required to be fully implemented by this September. To meet these requirements, it is important for small businesses to understand:
Applicable FSMA requirements
How to develop a supplier approval program
What challenges companies may encounter and tips to overcome them
How to find an appropriate starting point to develop a supply chain management program
Supply Chain Management Program
1. Receiving facility: A facility that is subject to preventive controls and supply-chain program and that manufacturers/processes raw materials or ingredients that it receives from a supplier.
2. Supplier: The establishment that manufacturers/processes the food, raises the animal, or grows the food that is provided to a receiving facility without further manufacturing/processing by another establishment, except for further manufacturing/processing that consists solely of the addition of labeling or similar activity of a de minimis nature.Food manufacturers need to develop and implement a supply chain management program, including supply chain preventive control, to control those potential hazards identified that shall be controlled by the suppliers when receiving all raw materials and ingredients. As defined in the actual FDA regulation, a supply management program will only be considered as a preventive control when it is linked to a potential food safety hazard in the raw materials and incoming ingredients. It is the supply-chain-applied control (21 CFR 117.3). As a receiving facility, you have the right to ask your suppliers for all related information associated with the food safety hazards that you identified from your own food safety plan.
What should be in your supply chain management program or supply-chain-applied control?
There needs to be a series of credentials for approval. This can be determined by you, depending on the hazards and product risks. For example, a third-party audit result or a certification from a reliable audit can serve this purpose.A few questions can be considered, including whether suppliers have a recall plan, whether suppliers have an existing food safety plan to control hazards, or whether suppliers have a non-conforming products control plan. Often these can be checked and verified when a third-party audit or third-party accredited audit is conducted. Once a supply chain management program becomes a preventive control, the raw materials can only be supplied by an approved supplier.
Monitoring activities and verifications should be applied to those approved suppliers in your supply chain. This can be done throughout the business history and supplier performance. You need to demonstrate how you continue monitoring the supplier approval status, and suppliers must demonstrate how their products remain guaranteed. Public records (e.g., warning letters), sample testing incoming goods, and customer audits are commonly utilized in the industry. However, in FSMA, when an approved supplier is supplying a high-risk raw material, such as one with SAHCODHA (Serious Adverse Health Consequences or Death to Humans or Animal) risks, an onsite (your own audit or third-party (accredited) audit) is required to be conducted as the verification activity. This must be completed annually unless you can provide a risk-based justification of other types validated verification activities.
Afterwards, as a receiving facility, you need to consider and develop procedures for non-conforming suppliers:
How do you require your suppliers maintain their “approval” status in your supply chain management program throughout the business years?
When one approved supplier is unapproved or experiencing unexpected incidents, how do you manage back-up suppliers?
What criteria do back-up suppliers need to meet prior to supplying the product(s)/ingredient(s)?
Melody Ge will be presenting “What Have We Learned After FSMA Implementation?” at the 2018 Food Safety ConsortiumDifferent products will have different approaches based on facility business operations. However, one thing remains the same. The justification must ensure that potential hazards identified from the original approved supplier are controlled when a back up supplier is used.
4. Last but not least, just like all other programs and controls, records and documentation are important! Records must be kept for all parts of the supply chain management program, including plan, monitoring, verification and any corrective actions that have been conducted. These data are precious to your facility over time, as supplier performance and trending could be a strong reference to see whether adjustment or modifications should be applied to your supply chain management.
There may be challenges collecting information or approving suppliers, but never forget the intention of a supply chain management program—to control the food safety hazards of incoming goods. Your supply chain management program will allow you to demonstrate that you have made all efforts to control the hazards that could potentially arise from your supply chain.
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