The Ohio Association for Food Protection (OAFP) held its Winter Conference and Annual Meeting at Columbus Public Health in Columbus, Ohio on January 11, 2012.   There were 48 in attendance and, during the breaks, lucky members received door prizes including a one year membership to IAFP
        Don Schaffner, Ph.D., Rutgers University, IAFP Secretary, started the conference with an excellent overview of the IAFP organization and the benefits of membership.  His educational presentation, “Understand and Managing Food Safety Risks at the RFE and FSO,” discussed risk assessment versus risk management applications.  Later in the afternoon, Dr. Schaffner also presented “Interpreting and Evaluating Challenge Studies for Variances,” discussing the complexities of product assessment. 

            Dr. Jeff LeJeune, The Ohio State University, talked about “The Safety of Your Burger: Preharvest Influences on Food Safety.”  His presentation described the study he and his team at OSU have been conducting on the presence of E. coli in livestock and how it is being spread by birds. 

            J. David Luedeke, MS, Battelle Institute, presented “Food Defense and Food Safety Activities at Battelle,” an overview of the Battelle Institute and products being developed that aid in food safety analysis. 

            Following the educational presentations the Annual Meeting was held.  A motion was passed to add language to the Bylaws that membership dues paid after the second meeting held in the summer will be counted as membership for the next calendar year. 

The summer meeting of the OAFP will be held July 11, 2012.

Officers elected to serve the upcoming term include:

President: Cindy Ewing

Vice President: Mike Thiel

2^nd Vice President: Sarah Badenhop

Past President: Shauna Boggs

Treasurer: Kelli Dodd

Affiliate Delegate: Gloria Swick-Brown

Agenda:

January 11, 2012