Laura Strawn of Virginia Tech was one of the workshop presenters at the 2017 IAFP conference in Tampa. Her research interests focus on enhanced microbial safety of produce production at both the pre- and post-harvest level.

The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) has announced the workshop lineup for its annual conference, set for this summer, and will begin taking workshop registrations March 20.

The event is set for July 8-11 in Salt Lake City.

The IAFP hosts the annual event to provide information on current and emerging food safety issues, the latest science, and innovative solutions to new and recurring problems. The conference provides the opportunity to network with thousands of food safety professionals from academia, government and industry from around the globe. Additionally, attendees can register to attend one or more of the following conference workshops:

Whole Genome Sequencing: A Tutorial and Hands-on Workshop to Help Understand This Emerging Technology

  • Friday, July 6 (1:00-5:00 p.m) and Saturday, July 7 (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) – 1.5 days
  • Topics include: Introduction into Whole Genome Sequencing, Introduction to WGS Data Analytics, Introduction to Phylogenetics, Introduction to GenomeTrakr and NCBI Pathogen Detection Website, Virtual Tools for Data Analysis, Examples of How CORE uses WGS for Outbreak Investigation, WGS in Regulatory Decision Making, Linux Overview, Hands-On Analysis of an WGS Dataset, Hands-On Exercises Using Open Source Tools
  • Presenters include representatives from FDA, National Institutes of Health, NSF International, NSF International, and Texas Tech University.

Hygienic Design and Sanitation

  • Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7 (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) – 2 days
  • Topics include: The importance of Sanitation, Introduction to Hygienic Zoning – Breakout, Overview – Sanitary Design of Equipment, Principles of Sanitary Design of Equipment, Hands-on examples of sanitary design of equipment – Breakout, Considerations for Utilities such as: Compressed air, environmental air, water, etc., Maintenance for Food Safety, Overview of Sanitation as a Preventive Control, Utilizing data to verify (validate) your sanitation program and for continuous improvement, Hands on cleaning and sanitizing following the 7 steps of sanitation – Breakout
  • Presenters include representatives from FDA-CFSAN and Commercial Food Sanitation

Standardized Biofilm Methods for Laboratory Studies of Biofilms

  • Saturday, July 7 (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) – 1 day
  • Topics include: An Introduction to Biofilms and Laboratory Growth Reactors, Adapting Standardized Biofilm Growth Methods for Other Bacteria, Important Considerations for Lab Studies with Biofilm, Keepin’ it Real: The Statistical R’s of Biofilm Methods, Visualizing Treatment Impacts on Biofilm, Now You’ve Got It, What Do You Do With It
  • Presenters include representatives from MSU Center for Biofilm Engineering

Food Genomics 101

  • Saturday, July 7 (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) – 1 day
  • Topics include: Hands on DNA Isolation/Intro/Overview, Genomics Nomenclature, Bioinformatics & Live Demos, Application 1 -Pathogen Source Tracking, Application 2 – Microbiomes, Application 3 – Non-Microbial Species ID, Application 4 – Samples and extraction, Applications 5 – Microbial Strain Typing, and Applications 6 – Online Tools Live Demo
  • Presenters include representatives from FDA and FDA/CFSAN, Eurofins BioDiagnostics, CosmosID, Zymo, and Eurofins Microbiology.

The event has grown to become the leading food safety conference worldwide, with attendance of more than 3,600 people from industry, academia and government from six continents.

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