Food safety professionals from Walt Disney, Coca-Cola, Publix Supermarkets, The Kraft Heinz Company, Aramark, Blue Bell Creameries, The Wendy’s Company, McDonald’s, Costco, and many others, as well as experts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other state and local regulatory organizations attended this week’s virtual Food Safety Summit. Participants heard from an A-list roster of speakers who shared their experiences during the global pandemic and the most important lessons learned, which will be standard as the industry moving forward. All of the content is available on-demand through April 2022 at the virtual portal at www.foodsafetysummit.com.

“We are honored that over 2,000 food safety professionals have chosen to learn, network, and connect during our virtual Food Safety Summit events in the last six months,” said Scott Wolters, chief events officer, BNP Media, owners of the Food Safety Summit. “We are happy to report that we plan to have the 2022 Food Safety Summit in person at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL from May 9–13.” 

The notable speakers at the Town Hall had this to say about the Food Safety Summit. “I really appreciate the chance to connect with this audience, and this remarkable panel. Truly an honor and a pleasure,” said Rob Tauxe, director, director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases at CDC. “Agree. World-class event with so many talented public health servants. It was an honor to be on the same panel with them,” added Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner, Food Policy & Response at FDA. “Great spending time with everyone,” said Sandra Eskin, deputy under secretary for food safety at USDA.

During the final day of the Summit, attendees had chance to participate in an extensive workshop on What Does Traceability Means for Me and My Business with speakers from Deloitte Consulting, Michigan State University, Public Super Markets, the Institute of Food Technologists, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and United Fresh Produce Association. This knowledgeable panel provided a common understanding of traceability, standard-based solutions and how they can be applied, the status of the regulatory process, and the impact of traceability on the supply chain.

Will Daniels of IEH, Mary Lynn Walsh of Sysco, and Glenn Stolowski of HEB provided the attendees with a guide to flexible planning while moving beyond COVID during the general session. The afternoon sessions included Local Public Health – Navigating Conflicting Information; Retail and New Business: What Should the Future Look Like; How Climate Affects the Safety of the Food Supply Chain; How to Take Care of Yourself, Each Other, Employees, and Communities; Managing Unintended Consequences during a Crisis; and International Impact on Food Supply – Imports.

During the three-day event, hundreds of professionals visited with leading vendors to learn about the latest food safety solutions through exhibit booths, Solutions Stages, and Tech Tent Presentations. The Exhibit Hall featured Gold Sponsor Purell; Silver Sponsors Applied Food Diagnostics, Aptean, and Millipore Sigma; and Bronze Sponsors Elisa Technologies, Zenput, and Pure Global Solutions as well as Orkin, Hexagon, Intertek Alchemy, FoodLogiQ, Mettler Toledo, Controlant, Perkin Elmer, Inficon, Beekeeper, One Event Technologies, We R Food Safety, Safety Chain, AFCO, IFS, and others. 

Plans are already being made for the 24th Annual Food Safety Summit, which will be held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, from Monday, May 9 through Thursday, May 12, 2022. For more information, on sponsorship or exhibiting opportunities contact Kim Hansen at hansenk@bnpmedia.com or Adam Haas at haasa@bnpmedia.com. For more information and updates, visit www.foodsafetysummit.com or follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

The Food Safety Summit is owned and produced by Food Safety Magazine (www.food-safety.com) and 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.