By Mike Robach, former VP, Cargill and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)
I have been supportive of the non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education for some time, and I’m especially honored to serve as the co-chair of their next Consumer Food Safety Education Conference (CFSEC) March 6-8, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. It is an effective and focused conference that brings together a range of public and private sector people that are committed to improving consumer food safety education.
Over my career I have advocated for the importance of supporting consumers with evidence-based safe food handling information because they are an important part of the food safety chain of prevention. The upcoming Conference is an opportunity for food safety and public health educators to network with colleagues, share best practices and bring home tools they can put into action in their own communities. PFSE survey data shows that more than 85% of food safety educators work face-to-face in small group settings with people in their communities. This is a powerful place from which to communicate more effectively with people on the importance of safe food handling and hand hygiene for keeping their families healthy.
At From Consumers to Chefs: Food Safety Education Matters, we’ll be talking about food and bringing food safety to the forefront — without putting a damper on the fun of cooking and baking at home!
At our seventh food safety education conference, sponsored by PFSE, we’ll explore influences on consumers, the best ways to affect behavior change, and better ways to engage everyone in modeling proper food preparation and hygiene practices.
The 2019 conference March 6-8 at the Swan and Dolphin Resort will draw 400 public and private sector professionals who are involved in educating people about food safety. Attendees of the 2017 conference said overwhelmingly that they intended to disseminate information from the conference to create positive behavior changes in consumer food handling practices.
Some of the important reasons attendees take part in this Conference include:
- To learn about current research in food safety behavior and intervention strategies.
- To focus on behavior change.
- To network and engage in collaborative dialogue with health and food safety professionals from all sectors.
- To take home strategies for influencing food safety attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of people in their community.
Who will be there?
In my experience, this conference gathers a unique group of professionals from public and private sectors that support consumer health:
- Food safety educators and food safety communicators
- Public health and environmental health professionals
- Cooperative Extension professionals
- Consumer advocates
- Food and beverage industry professionals
- Local, state and federal government and military personnel
- Educators, both K-12 and college/university
I hope you will take a moment to learn more and register to attend!
I urge you to join us for two days of take-away strategies for raising the awareness of people around the importance of safe food handling to good overall health. I look forward to seeing you there!
Registration
Register now for Early Bird discounts.
Location
Swan and Dolphin Resort
1500 Epcot Resorts Blvd
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
www.swandolphin.com
About Mike Robach
Mike is CEO of The Robach Group and recently retired from Cargill as Vice President for Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Affairs. Mike is past President for Safe Supply of Affordable Food Everywhere (SSAFE), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), a member of the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Council Executive Committee for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and a member of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association’s Research Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the American Meat Institute, the National Turkey Federation, the International Association of Food Protection, the Institute of Food Technologists, and the American Society for Microbiology.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
From Consumers to Chefs: Food Safety Education Matters, March 6-8, 2019 at the Swan and Dolphin Resort is the 7th in a series of food safety education conferences sponsored by the non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education. For more conference information and to register, please visit cfsec2019.fightbac.org.