I am honored to be the Chair – with our Vice-Chair Dr. Steven Gendel – of the IAFP Food Fraud Professional Development Group (FF PDG). A key activity of our PDG is the survey of our membership (below). This post serves as an invitation to both complete our survey and to join and attend the IAFP Annual Conference on July 21, 2022, in Pittsburgh where our PDG meeting will be held.
Building on the pioneering work of the previous Chairs Karen Everstine and Clare Menezes, Steven and I are continuing to seek the most efficient way to serve the membership and the association. We start by asking questions in our new FF PDG Survey.
IAFP Food Fraud Professional Development Group – SURVEY
Please participate in this “interest survey” – it is your opportunity to help lead the direction of food fraud prevention. The survey is open to all IAFP and PDG members, plus the public at large. We are reviewing our direction for 2022 and beyond.
- Link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FfPdg2021JulyIntroduction
For more background, the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) is one of the oldest and biggest food professional associations. The Annual Conference has been one of the most widely attended events in the field. One important contribution to the members is the leadership of the Professional Development Group (PDG) programming.
PDGs were created to provide a forum for professional development in specific areas. Food fraud is an emerging topic in the world and for IAFP, so we have an important role in defining the topic and the needs of the industry.
Anyone can join IAFP, and anyone who is a member can join a PDG. IAFP members can manage their involvement by logging in to the IAFP Web site. At the Member Dashboard, click “Edit Profile.” Your profile has two tabs: Contact Info and Professional Info. On this screen you can select to join a PDG.
IAFP Food Fraud Professional Development Group – MEETING
If you are interested in taking a more active role in food fraud prevention, please consider attending our PDG meeting:
- Food Fraud PDG
- Sunday, July 31, 2022: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
- Location: IAFP 2022 Annual Meeting
- Room 304-305
IAFP 2022 Annual Meeting (International Association for Food Protection)
If you are interested in the IAFP Annual Meeting:
- IAFP 2022 Annual Meeting
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- July 31 – August 3
- REGISTRATION: https://www.foodprotection.org/annualmeeting/
Food Fraud PDG Survey – PRELIMINARY RESULTS
We will be reviewing and presenting the survey results during the FF PDG meeting. This information will be a starting point to discuss our next group actions.
For now, here are a few preliminary results from the survey:
- Survey Membership: 60% are members of the PDG, 40% are not members of the PDG. Also, 26% consider themselves “active.” We have a great cross section of participants.
- Level of Activity: 57% of the respondents said the FF PDG should be “More active” (10% said “A lot more active”) — none said “Less active” or that “It should end/ close.” A key now will be defining our role within the IAFP current scope (or to find ways to expand that scope).
- Types of Activity: 92% recommended providing a library of resources and hosting webinars and additional meetings. This is great insight and we can now start identifying the specifics. An association, and PDG, is a great filter especially for basic education for emerging topics such as food fraud prevention.
- Types of Content – Detail: As for content areas, there was interest in understanding and implementing prevention best practices and then helping to define the most efficient countermeasures and control systems (including analytical tests for food authenticity).
- Types of Outreach Activities: The need for general outreach included for companies and academics but also regulators and law enforcement.
As you can see, there has been a lot of work behind the scenes to both understand the broad industry needs and to frame the response within the association and PDG framework. We hope you will at least complete the survey but also consider attending the IAFP Food Fraud Professional Development Group meeting in Pittsburg on Sunday, July 31, 2022.