This interactive roundtable is intended to engender lively discussion of important food safety topics. It is assumed audience participants will have a basic understanding of the unresolved issues surrounding the topics to be discussed in the symposium. The session will cover three topics: “Is our food supply too clean? Are there unintended health consequences as we chase zero?”; “Does the food industry need to change its approach to food safety management, taking into account cultural differences between boomers and millennials?”; and, “Is there a human health risk introduced from the use of chemical sanitizing agents in food manufacturing that exceeds the benefit from the reduction of microbial risk that is achieved?” Each topic will include a 7-minute presentation in support of (YES) followed by a 7-minute presentation in opposition of (NO) the proposed topic question. Each speaker will have 3 minutes for extemporaneous rebuttals. A 6-minute question/answer session will then follow to allow for audience participation. We will have electronic polling of the audience to allow for a Yes/No vote on each topic question prior to and following the discussion to evaluate whether people’s views have been changed by the presentations.
Sponsored by the ILSI North America Technical Committee on Food Microbiology:
1. Is Our Food Supply Too Clean? Are There Unintended Health Consequences as We Chase Zero?
Jeff Lejeune, Ohio State University
Joe Stout, Commercial Food Sanitation, LLC
2. Does the Food Industry Need to Change Its Approach to Food Safety Management, Taking into Account Cultural Differences between Boomers and Millennials?
Benjamin Chapman, North Carolina State University
Kelly Stevens, General Mills Inc.
Sponsored by the ILSI North America Technical Committee on Food and Chemical Safety:
3. Is There a Human Health Risk Introduced from the Use of Chemical Sanitizing Agents in Food Manufacturing That Exceeds the Benefit from the Reduction of Microbial Risk That is Achieved?
Michael Holsapple, Michigan State University
Katherine MJ Swanson, KMJ Swanson Food Safety, Inc.