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FOOD MICROBIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM MARKS SUCCESSFUL 25TH YEAR

By Jenna Wegner
UW-RF Public Affairs
[photos]

NOV. 18, 2005-- UW-River Falls recently celebrated 25 years of the annual Food Microbiology Symposium in October.

Keynote speakers included Professor Daniel Y.C. Fung of Kansas State University and John O’Brien, chief executive officer of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). Fung discussed the future of rapid methods and automation in microbiology as a field of research and study, which has matured into an important discipline in applied microbiology. O'Brien related his experiences with food safety in Ireland and how it compares to the food safety precautions in the United States.

Approximately 110 people attended the five-day event, which focuses on food safety and automated methods in food microbiology. For many of the attendees, it's their first time in Wisconsin, or even the United States. Conference director and UW-RF food science Professor P.C. Vasavada, announced that this year's symposium also had the largest amount of technical posters entered by graduate students. These students are involved with food microbiology and rapid testing methods and are then able to display their research through technical posters.

Additional speakers include: Stan Bailey, USDA-Agricultural Research Service; Reginald Bennett, FDA; Robert Brackett, FDA, CFSAN; Michael Brodsky, Brodsky Consultants; Julian Cox, the University of New South Wales; Tibor Deak, St. Istvan University; Mimi Goldschmidt, University of Texas; Paul Hall, Kraft Foods; Will Hueston, University of Minnesota; Ann Marie McNamara, Silliker, Inc.; Scott Russell, University of Georgia; Richard Stier, Consulting Food Scientists; Bala Swaminathan, CDE; Cory M. Bryant, Institute of Food Technologists; Beth Ann Crozier-Dodson, Kansas State University; Jeffrey Kornacki, Kornacki Food Safety Associates, LLC; Joseph Odumeru, University of Guelph and Timothy Weigner, the Uriah Group.

The Food Microbiology Symposium attracts a diverse community of attendees. The program is suitable for food scientists and technologists, quality assurance supervisors, food laboratory directors, microbiologists, consultants, researchers and graduate students interested in food microbiology.
For information on the 26th annual symposium, email foodmicro@uwrf.edu or visit the Web site at http://www.uwrf.edu/food-science, click on the links to workshops and then the link to the Food Microbiology Symposium. For more information, contact Vasavada at 715-425-3150.

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Last updated: Monday, 21-Nov-2005 16:07:46 CST