Attendees at this year’s Food Safety Summit Conference and Expo are in for quite the “Prime” experience.
This year’s Summit will feature a keynote presentation from Carletta Ooton, Amazon’s V.P. of health and safety, sustainability, security and compliance. Ooton (pictured) will discuss the company's unique business model and how Amazon is transforming food safety through big data and technology. 
The Summit, which will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, runs May 7 - 10, 2018 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. Ooton’s keynote will be Wed., May 9.
Professionals from every part of the food safety supply chain will have the opportunity to take advantage of:
- Seven certification courses
- Two dozen educational sessions
- An interactive town hall
- Case studies
- The dynamic keynote presentation
- Discussion groups
- Several networking events
- A trade show floor featuring more than 200 exhibitors
"This year the Food Safety Summit has organized a show that focuses on addressing food safety throughout the supply chain by hosting a program that emphasizes how each community that makes up the ecosystem is connected,” says Scott Wolters, director of the Food Safety Summit. “It is vital to understand not only the specific roles and responsibilities that make up the industry but also those in the rest of the process.”
In addition to the keynote, highlights of the Summit include:
- Certification and Training Courses - The Food Safety Summit seeks to help advance knowledge among the food industry to meet regulatory requirements and to help all members of the food industry get the training they need to do their jobs. Courses include: HACCP and Seafood HACCP, Preventive Controls for Animal Food, Foreign Supplier Verification, Preventive Controls for Human Foods, Auditor Training and the Certified in Comprehensive Food Safety course.
- Focus on the Supply Chain - On Tues., May 8 the comprehensive conference content will address the importance of food safety throughout the supply chain and how each community that makes up the ecosystem is connected.
- Educational Programs - These 26 sessions will cover important topics including: traceability, regulations, FSMA, foodborne outbreaks, big data, food fraud prevention, microbial interventions, co-packers, cold chain and more.
- New Community Cafes - At this year's Summit visitors will be able to stop by one of the four Community Cafes on the exhibit hall floor to ask questions and continue conversations with subject matter experts, will who be facilitating discussions, as well as with their peers. There will be four areas set up to reflect the four areas of the Supply Chain: Manufacturer/Processor/Supplier; Distributor; Retailer/Foodservice; and Regulatory.
- Networking Events - Attendees and exhibitors will kick off the event with a Welcome Reception on the exhibit hall floor on Tuesday evening. On Wed., May 9 from 5:30 - 7 p.m. attend an evening reception to celebrate the Food Safety Summit's 20th Anniversary.
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Town Hall - The Town Hall offers Summit attendees the unique opportunity for an open and honest dialog with leaders from the four most influential regulatory and advisory bodies for food safety who will give updates and answer audience questions. The panel includes:
- Carmen Rottenberg, acting deputy under secretary at Office of Food Safety, USDA
- Steve Mandernach, past president, AFDO, bureau chief for food and consumer Safety - Iowa Department Inspections and Appeals
- Robert Tauxe, Director, division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental Diseases, CDC
- Stephen Ostroff, deputy commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, FDA.
- Gary Ades, G&L Consulting Group, will moderate this general session.
- Exhibit Hall - Access to 200+ solution providers including Gold Sponsor Alchemy, Silver Sponsor Eurofins and Bronze Sponsor Sani Professional. Exhibitors will be providing hands-on demonstrations of cutting-edge products and technologies and face-to-face conversations with knowledgeable staff.
To learn more about the Summit and to register, visit www.FoodSafetySummit.com.
