Food Protection Conference Awards Honors, Welcomes Guests

Photo Submitted

Adam Baker (third from left) received AAFP's Michael G. Johnson Graduate Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Food Microbiology Research, Teaching and Peer Mentoring. With him are (from left) Michael Johnson, emeritus professor of food science, Steven Ricke, director of the U of A Center for Food Safety, and his mother, Karla Baker.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Speakers from industry, government and several universities addressed emerging issues in food safety during the sixth annual Arkansas Association for Food Protection conference Sept. 11-13. The conference was organized by the Center for Food Safety at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the South Central Branch of the American Society for Microbiology and attracted more than 225 people at the Chancellor Hotel in Fayetteville.

Speakers addressed matters in emerging issues in fresh products, keys to food safety for customers and employees, food microbiology and safety, pet food safety, preharvest food safety and sustainability issues in food safety. A career symposium for students addressed career preparation, choices, opportunities and reaching career destinations.

Nancy Gushing of OK Foods, AAFP president-elect, welcomed the conference participants. Several commercial vendors offered opportunities to discuss their products outside the conference hall. Corporate sponsors of the conference were:

• Gold Level: International Paper, Jones-Hamilton Co., Qiagen and Roka Biosciences.
• Silver Level: DuPont.
• Bronze Level: FoodChek, Land O’Frost and World Bioproducts.

Two prestigious awards were presented at the ceremony. Mike Sostrin of Walmart Stores, who served as AAFP’s founding president in 2009, received the first AAFP Fellow award. Adam Baker, a graduate research assistant in the University of Arkansas food science department, received the Michael G. Johnson Graduate Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Food Microbiology Research, Teaching and Peer Mentoring.

University of Arkansas food science students participated in a research poster competition, with their posters on display in the conference hall throughout the proceedings. Winners of the competition’s categories were:

• Sea Star International Food Safety Outreach and Education Poster Award – Anisha Ghosh 
• Vivione Rapid Detection Methods Poster Award – Lizhou Xu
• IEH Intervention Pre-Harvest Poster Award – Stephanie Roto
• SFC Intervention Honorable Mention Poster Award – Zach Callaway
• J.B. Hunt Honorable Mention Poster Award – Sardar Abdullah
• UA Center for Food Safety Foodborne Pathogens-Fundamental Understanding Poster Award – Sabastine Arthur