Celebrating 25 Years of the Food Safety Summit, Your Must-Attend Event for 2023

Next month, the Food Safety Summit, the premier event for food safety professionals, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with an outstanding education program and exhibition at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois.

The Summit will take place May 8–11 and showcase three days of certificate/certification courses, workshops, education sessions, an opening Keynote with senior executives, a Town Hall Q&A with regulators, and a Closing Keynote with an all-attorney panel. The Summit's esteemed Educational Advisory Board has worked hard to craft an education program that stays on top of current issues in food safety, caters to the needs of our expanding attendee base, and keeps the demand for practical, actionable insights at the forefront.

Every educational offering on the agenda is a standout, but I'd like to highlight a few of the sessions here to whet your appetite. The Summit kicks off with certificate/certification courses on Monday, May 8 that explore topics including food fraud prevention, Certified Professional—Food Safety (CP-FS) credentials review, and training for HACCP, among others. On Tuesday, May 9, our workshops series will kick off with an expertly guided session on root-cause investigations, and continue with a workshop on how to establish a robust traceability program to comply with FDA's Traceability Rule. Tuesday evening will conclude with a welcome reception on the Exhibit Hall floor, offering attendees the chance to network and enjoy beverages and small bites.

The education program on Wednesday, May 10 will start with morning community discussions for foodservice, manufacturing and distribution, and retail. Afterward, the opening Keynote Presentation will explore how to balance risks for the safety of consumers, employees, and the environment, and feature senior executives from Wawa Inc., Maple Leaf Foods, and OSI Group. Attendees who are newer to the food safety space may wish to join the later session on "Pathogen Genomics—What Makes an Organism a Pathogen," to understand more about these organisms and their fundamental importance to food safety.

For attendees who are interested in understanding the traceback mechanisms used during a foodborne illness outbreak and how food companies fit into the picture, Wednesday's "Outbreak Investigation for Food Safety Professionals" session, led by representatives from CDC, FDA, USDA, and industry, will share profound insights. Later in the afternoon, one session will take a regulatory look forward at Salmonella in poultry, while another will take a look back at the lessons learned from the 1992–1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. The day's events will conclude with the "Food Safety Summit Gives Back" Networking Reception to benefit Stop Foodborne Illness.

“Structural changes in routine activity patterns of food producers, suppliers, workers, and consumers can impact food fraud by increasing or decreasing the opportunity for fraud.”

Thursday, May 11 will offer a wealth of options for attendees to advance their knowledge. Morning sessions will explore the respective challenges of PFAS in food packaging, the incorporation of Cannabis in the food industry, and the rise of social media in food safety—all topics of increasing focus and concern. Following the morning sessions, the Town Hall with Regulators and Advisory Groups will feature a conversation and audience Q&A with top officials and representatives from FDA, USDA, CDC, and AFDO. Join this popular session for a riveting discussion with regulators and advisors on the most pressing food safety concerns of today and tomorrow.

Thursday afternoon sessions will take a look at the reality of food safety culture in retail foodservice operations, sanitary design in restaurants, and reducing food loss and waste. Also, Stop Foodborne Illness and FDA will host the seventh webinar in their food safety culture series live from the Summit on Thursday afternoon. The webinar will be livestreamed online, and Summit attendees are invited to be part of the onsite audience. The day's Closing Keynote session will feature an all-star attorney panel, moderated by yours truly. The panel will impart practical, helpful advice to attendees on how to sharpen their food safety focus at the plant and corporate levels, and stay out of the courtroom. Make sure to check out the full Summit agenda to view all of the great courses, workshops, and education sessions we're offering this year!

But that's not all the Summit has to offer. The Exhibit Hall, open from 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. on May 10–11, will feature Tech Tent and Solutions Stage Presentations, interviews with select speakers live from the Food Safety Magazine booth, and numerous solutions and demonstrations from exhibiting companies. Lunch will also be served in the Exhibit Hall, so stop by for some sustenance and explore all of the options available to make your afternoon an exciting and informative one. Also, since there are no Summit education sessions during Exhibit Hall hours, you won't have to worry about missing anything on the agenda!

So, now that I've got you hyped up for this year's program, I'd like to let you know that registration is open—it takes just a few minutes to complete. For convenience, you can also book your hotel online. We look forward to welcoming back our returning attendees and greeting this year's new faces.

See you in Rosemont!

References

1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Adoption of the FDA Food Code by State and Territorial Agencies Responsible for the Oversight of Restaurants and/or Retail Food Stores." 2021. https://www.fda.gov/media/107543/download.