FDA, USDA, AFDO, and CDC to present at 2022 Food Safety Summit's Town Hall - Food Safety News

– OPINION –

By Gary Ades

Top regulators and agency leaders from FDA, USDA, AFDO, and CDC will once again provide food safety professionals, students and regulators with key updates, data, and statistics from their organizations during the Food Safety Summit Town Hall scheduled for May 12 in Rosemont, IL.  

Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy and Response for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Sandra Eskin, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); Rob Tauxe, M.D., M.P.H, Director of NCEZID's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases (DFWED) in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ; and Steve Mandernach, J.D., Executive Director for the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) will participate in an interactive Q&A session with the audience and each other. 

Attendees at the Summit are invited to come with their questions for an opportunity for discussion with all four organizations that are represented on the same stage. The Town Hall has become an integral part of the Food Safety Summit. It has helped to provide attendees with ideas for solutions and guidance for planning for tomorrow. 

Over the many years that the Town Hall has been a part of the Food Safety Summit, the discussions and Q&A period have been both informative and spirited. It has given the audience the opportunity to meet these dedicated professionals who work so hard to keep food safe. 

In addition to the Town Hall, leaders from these four organizations will also be featured in several other sessions during the Summit.  During the Keynote Address — "The Future of Food Safety Culture: Commitment and Collaboration" — Conrad Choiniere, Ph.D., from the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and Donald Prater, D.V.M., from the FDA Office of Food Policy and Response, will join a panel to discuss the new and emerging role that food safety culture will play in the food industry.

Art Liang, MD, MPH, from the CDC, will be joined by Sheryl Shaw, DVM, MPH, Dipl ACVPM, and Andrea Cote, DVM, MPH, DACVPM from the USDA and will explore how the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the FDA, and the CDC use human illness, microbiologic, traceback and other information streams to inform outbreak investigations during the "Foodborne Outbreak Investigation 101"  session.

Mark Moorman, Ph.D., Director of Food Safety for the FDA, will moderate a panel on "Moving Forward after Novel Outbreaks" with panelists Stic Harris, Stephen Hughes and Kurt Nolte from the FDA and Sam Crowe from CDC.  

In addition, Steven Mandernach, JD, Executive Director of AFDO, will moderate two panels on "Improving the Future of Recalls" with panelists from STOP Foodborne Illness and the Michigan Department of Agriculture; and "Modernization of the Inspection Process" with representatives from Consumer Brands Association, National Restaurant Association, McDonald's, and the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals Food and Consumer Safety.

For access to the complete education program and to register for the 2022 Food Safety Summit, click here.   The trade show and conference is scheduled for May 9-12 at the  Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL.

Editor's note: Gary Ades, Ph.D, is president of G&L Consulting Group and moderator for the Food Safety Summit Town Hall session.