Industry Leaders to Appear at 2015 Food Safety Summit

The 2015 Food Safety Summit, scheduled for April 28-30 at the Baltimore Convention Center, will start off with a keynote session presented by a distinguished panel of industry leaders, among them Donnie Temperley, VP of operations at Hormel Foods, and Charlean Gmunder, former VP of manufacturing at Chiquita Brands.

Will Daniels, former SVP operations of San Juan Bautista, Calif.-based Earthbound Farm, will serve as moderator of the session, during which the panelists will discuss how they work with food safety professionals to ensure that the safest, highest-quality products reach consumers.

"Our educational advisory board was instrumental in developing the concept for this keynote presentation to inform our audience of food safety and quality control professionals on how best to gain departmental cooperation within their organizations," noted Scott Wolters, the Food Safety Summit's event director. "The summit will also offer two plenary interactive sessions where attendees will have a chance to have open and honest dialogue with the leaders of food safety at the FDA, USDA, CDC and AFDO, as well as participate in a session dedicated to the hottest topics facing the industry today."

The summit's closing general session, during which industry leaders will address some of the most pressing issues and hot topics confronting food safety professionals, is slated to include food safety attorney Bill Marler, who will speak about the aftermath of the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) verdict and where ingredients come from; Gillian Kelleher, VP of food safety and quality assurance at Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets Inc., who will discuss local sourcing and food safety; and Joan Menke-Schaenzer, chief global quality officer at ConAgra Foods Inc., who will join the panel to talk about food safety systems and other issues. Craig Wilson, VP, GMM quality assurance and food safety at Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale, will moderate the session.

The event will also feature hundreds of industry vendors providing information on the newest products and services for the food safety industry, and pre-conference certification courses in HACCP and seafood HACCP on Monday, April 27.

Registration is currently open and the full conference program is available online.