Author: Rick S

Urgent: Cast Your Vote for MFPA Leadership Positions!

Dear Members of the Minnesota Food Protection Association,

We hope this message finds you well. As a valued member of our community, your participation is crucial in shaping the future of our association. Recently, we sent out an email containing a poll for the election of our new Secretary, Treasurer, and Affiliate Council member positions.

Why Your Vote Matters:

Secretary: This role is vital for maintaining accurate records and ensuring effective communication within our association.

Treasurer: The Treasurer oversees our financial health, ensuring we can continue to support our initiatives and goals.

Affiliate Council Member: This position represents our interests at a broader level, advocating for our needs and priorities

How to Vote

1. Check your email for the poll sent by the MFPA.
2. Follow the link provided in the email to access the poll form.
3. Cast your vote for each position.

Deadline: Please make sure to submit your responses by January 17^th.

Your voice is important to us, and we encourage every member to take a few moments to participate in this election. Together, we can ensure that our association continues to thrive and effectively serve our community.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Best regards,

Rick Stokes
Soon to be Past President 🙂
Minnesota Food Protection Association

November 8th, 5:30-8:00 pm

University of Minnesota

Room 15

1334 Eckles Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55108

Join us as we gather in-person to discuss food safety at the University of Minnesota for the 2023 Fall Minnesota Food Protection Association Meeting.

5:30-6:30 Networking and appetizers or pizza

6:30-8:00 Meeting, discussion and more networking

Pay parking is available by the department in SC101 parking lot. On street parking on Raymond Ave may be an option as well.

The building is typically locked, so there will be someone present to let you in.

2600 Park Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55407

Join us as we gather in-person to discuss food safety at the American Swedish Institute for the 2023 Minnesota Food Protection Association Meeting.

5:30-6:30 Networking cocktail hour in the Turnblad Mansion (beer/wine/non-alcoholic drinks + passed appetizers)

6:30-8:00 Meeting, discussion and more networking in the Folke Bernadotte Conference room (additional appetizers)

Add to Calendar

Do you know someone interested in pursuing food safety or related fields? As MFPA members, you can help get the word out on talented individuals. What if you are looking for someone to work in your food safety related field? You can reach out to our Communications committee or our officers and we can feature individuals on our LinkedIn pages.

We now have a LinkedIn page and a twitter account. On LinkedIn, you can search for “Minnesota Food Protection Association” or click on the link https://www.linkedin.com/company/minnesota-food-protection-association

Our twitter handle is @MinnesotaFPA or click on the link https://twitter.com/MinnesotaFPA

Adel Foka won an IAFP Membership at our Spring 2020 meetin. Adel attends the University of Minnesota.

February 25th, 2020
5:00 – 8:00 PM

LOCATION
Department of Food Science and Nutrition

Room 15, 1334 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN

University of Minnesota

Pizza, Ice Cream (From the Food Science Department), and beverages will be served!

AGENDA
Recognize and introduce new attendees
Treasurers report
Dedicated networking time
Guest speaker:

Come hear Dr. Johan (Job) Ubbink from the University of Minnesota share about about his experience at Nestle and the vision for Food Science and Nutrition Department.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Job Ubbink

DIRECTIONS
The room is in the basement, as you come into the main entrance of the building just take the stairs down and the entrance to the room will be immediately at your right. This is a seminar-type room where we hold a good number of our courses.
There is a parking lot just in front of the building with entrance by Commonwealth Ave. and there are parking meters on the street. If you need any more directions please see:

Are you asking yourself the question what is the limit of detection needed. People ask me how low is low enough. When you are cleaning to remove allergens you need to know when you are done cleaning. The answer like many in food safety is, it depends. A thorough review of the risks is an important starting point.
You are trying to ensure that you do not have enough allergen left on your equipment that would carry over to a new production run of a product that does not have that allergen. This could cause an allergic response in an unwary consumer.
The method of confirming the cleaning is adequate varies. Some document on a checklist that the surfaces were visually clean. Some swab cleaned surfaces on some frequency and test the swab. Others capture part of the following production run or a rinse solution and test that material. The tests are done using various test methods to determine if the target allergen is present either directly through antibody/dna testing or indirectly through general protein or ATP testing.
So how low is low enough will depend on what your risk is of a allergen cross-contact causing a consumer to have a response. There is work by the FDA and WHO on creating guidance to help as well as some other industry guidelines that may be specific to the products you make.

Come vote on whether or not we should create a student committee within MFPA to better represent the needs of our student members.

Thank you to those that were able to make the meeting.

We heard from our new President Gregory Danzeisen on the state of MFPA and a review of the Affiliate Meeting held this last summer at the IAFP annual meeting.

Polly Courtney also provided an update on the current health of our membership and financial position. We remain in a good position and look forward to doing more with our organization.

We discussed ideas for upcoming awards and meetings. In order to get as much feedback as possible, we will be creating a survey to send to our members. So please watch for the survey when it comes to your email.