The International Association for Food Protection set the Preliminary Program for IAFP 2019 – the Association’s Annual Meeting, July 21–24 in Louisville, Kentucky. The meeting has earned recognition as the leading food safety conference. Online registration and the preliminary program are available on the Association website (http://www.foodprotection.org/annualmeeting/).

The meeting begins Sunday evening, July 21, with the Opening Session featuring the Ivan Parkin Lecture, followed by the Cheese and Wine Reception held in the Exhibit Hall. This year’s honored lecturer is Barbara Chamberlin, Ph.D., professor at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Monday morning starts three days of sessions with more than 1,250 presentations including 73 symposia, 22 roundtable sessions, 136 technical presentations, and 818 poster presentations. Samples of symposium topics include: 2018 State and Local Foodborne Illness Investigations; Challenges in Campylobacter Detection and Control; Fresh-Cut Processing and FSMA; and Updates on the Impact of Sampling Methods on Food Safety. The Annual John H. Silliker Lecture will be presented on Wednesday afternoon, featuring Robert Tauxe, M.D., M.P.H., director for the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. For additional educational opportunities, IAFP 2019 will present six Pre-meeting Workshops on July 19 and July 20.

Attendance is expected to exceed 3,600 of the top industry, academic and government food safety professionals. This broad mix of attendees includes professionals in quality control,processing operations, regulatory inspections, food safety consulting, risk assessment, research and development, microbiological research, plant management, technical services, and HACCP management. The meeting will also showcase 200 companies and organizations demonstrating the latest products and technologies in the Exhibit Hall.