Food safety isn’t just about rules and regs and corporate bottom lines. It’s about public trust and safety and that’s going to be a primary focus at the 22nd annual Food Safety Summit.

“Every day millions of people trust food safety professionals with their health and well being at dinner tables across the country,” said Scott Wolters, chief events officer at BNP Media, which produces the summit. “The Food Safety Summit has continued to address emerging issues, provide effective solutions and serve as a forum for the food safety community to exchange ideas, network and make powerful connections.”

This year’s Food Safety Summit educational program Is scheduled for May 4-7 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, IL. The event will feature sessions led by industry thought leaders, a keynote presentation on consumer-focused food safety, five certificate/certification courses, an opening session featuring an interactive journey through cross-contamination scenarios, the eighth Annual Town Hall featuring FDA, AFDO, CDC and USDA and opportunities for community discussions.

Highlights for this year’s Food Safety Summit include:

Kick off, five certification and certificate courses: Monday, May 4, the five courses are FSPCA’s Intentional Adulteration: Conducting Vulnerability Assessment; NEHA’s Professional Food Safety Auditor Training and Certified in Comprehensive Food Safety (CCFS) courses; Converting HACCP in Preventive Controls/HARPC and Introduction to FDA-iRISK®. For details, visit https://www.foodsafetystrategies.com/agenda .

Interactive journey through cross-contamination: Tuesday, May 5, a team from Commercial Food Sanitation will lead a four-hour interactive journey through cross-contamination scenarios and hands-on simulations of food safety opportunities. The journey will include incidents, accidents, oversights, hits and misses. Allergens, foreign material contamination, pathogens and spoilage will be the focal point, in a session titled Play to Win – Food Safety 5K Competition.

Environmental sampling workshop: Tuesday, May 5, there will be a full day Environmental Sampling for Retail Establishment Outbreaks Workshop, where leaders from AFDO and the CDC will explain how environmental sampling supports activities such as environmental assessment and foodborne outbreak investigations.

Consumer-Focused food safety presentation: Wednesday, May 6, Will Daniels, President of the Produce Division at IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group, will discuss Back to Basics: Consumer-Focused Food Safety during the keynote presentation.

The 2020 program will cover a wide range of topics through 26 education sessions on important issues such as food fraud, co-packers, allergens, cannabis, labeling, Hepatitis A, traceability, FSMA and much more.

Town hall: Thursday, May 7, the top regulators and agency leaders from FDA, USDA, AFDO, and CDC will share the stage in an interactive session with the audience and each other. The format will be a true town hall – and attendees are invited to participate in the 75 minute Q&A session.

Exhibit hall: Wednesday and Thursday, May 6 and 7, there will be dedicated exhibit hall time for attendees to learn about new solutions and how to implement them; engage in small group discussions in the Community Hub; attend presentations by food safety experts in the Community Learning Lounge, on the Solutions Stages and in the Tech Tent; enjoy lunch and time to network with peers. The exhibit hall at the Food Safety Summit is an essential resource for all attendees, bringing the opportunity to meet with leading companies introducing the latest products and technologies in food safety.

Click here to view the 2020 exhibitor list. Space is filling up fast and there are limited spaces available for exhibitors. Interested companies can contact Kim Hansen at hansenk@bnpmedia.com with any questions.

About the Food Safety Summit:

The Food Safety Summit is designed to meet the educational and informational needs of the entire food industry and will be held Monday, May 4 through Thursday, May 7 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. The Food Safety Summit is produced by BNP Media (www.bnpmedia.com), one of the country’s leading business-to-business media companies serving industry professionals across 60+ industries through magazines, custom media, e-newsletters, webinars, events and market research

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here)