The Food Safety Summit is a leading forum on food safety and food security with an in-depth conference program offering solutions for today and planning for tomorrow, featuring the world's leading authorities examining the most up-to-date innovations in the industry. For the first time, the Food Safety Summit's Executive Educational Advisory Committee (EEAC) has announced a Call for Speakers for the 2013 event, taking place at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Md., April 30- May 2, 2013.

"The Food Safety Summit has become the leading industry event thanks in large part to the dedication and commitment of our Executive Educational Advisory Committee and we are pleased to welcome new members to the committee who will be adding their insight and knowledge to the development of the 2013 program," said Scott Wolters, director, tradeshows and conferences for BNP Media, owners of the Food Safety Summit. "For this year's event we are inviting industry experts to submit abstracts to be considered by the EEAC to be speakers. The EEAC members always want to ensure that we are offering sessions on the most pressing issues facing the industry." To upload an abstract to be considered visit the Food Safety Summit Call for Speakers.

Industry leaders who will be on the Executive Educational Advisory Committee include (* indicates a new member for 2013).

  • Gary Ades, Ph.D., President, G&L Consulting Group, LLC

  • Al Baroudi, Ph.D., Vice President, Quality Assurance Food Safety, The Cheesecake Factory Inc.

  • Jason Bashura, General Health Scientist, Food Defense Oversight Team,FDA*

  • Will Daniels, Senior VP Operations and Organic Integrity Earthbound Farms

  • Jay Ellingson, Ph.D., Corporate Director Food Safety and Quality Assurance, Kwik Trip*

  • Oscar Garrison, Assistant Commissioner, Consumer Protection, Georgia Department of Agriculture

  • Peter Good, Owner, Peter Good Seminars

  • Craig Henry, Ph.D., ERS Director, Deloitte & Touche LLP

  • Hal King, Ph.D., Director of Food and Product Safety, Chick-fil-A

  • John Marcy, Ph.D., Professor and Poultry Processing Specialist, University of Arkansas*

  • Gina Nicholson, RS, Food Safety and Quality Manager, The Kroger Co.

  • Tom Packer, Partner, Gordon & Reed, LLP

  • John Spink, Ph.D., Associate Director & Assistant Professor of Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program MSU, School of Criminal Justice

  • Brian Turner, Senior Manager, Food Safety Information Services, Sodexo*

  • Sharon Wood, Director of Quality Assurance and Food Safety, H-E-B

In keeping with the theme of the Food Safety Summit - Solutions for Today, Planning for Tomorrow - sessions must be educational and address one of the following food safety solutions: Allergens, Auditing, Crisis Planning, Effective Risk Communication, Emerging Issues in Retail, Foodservice and Grocery Operations, Environmental Monitoring, FDA and USDA regulations and guidelines, Food Fraud, Defense and Security, Food Safety Modernization Act, Global Food Supply, GMPs and Prerequisite Programs, HACCP, Imports/Exports, Interaction of Public and Private Sectors, Interventions, Market Trends and Landscape for the Future, Packaging, Pathogens, Pest Control, Predictive Microbiology Testing, Produce, Quantitative Risk Assessment, Sanitation Design of Equipment, Sanitation, Traceability, Training, or Transportation/Distribution - Protecting Products.

The Call for Speakers will be open through October 12, 2012. Conference presentations will be 60-75 minutes in length. All session proposals must be educational and non-commercial in nature-sales pitches and product-centric presentations will not be considered. The EEAC will review the submissions and reserves the final right to select the speakers and topics to be presented. Proposals will be evaluated in terms of:

  • Importance of topic to conference attendees

  • Inclusion of an end user as either lead or co-presenter,

  • Objective, educational, non-commercial content

  • Clearly defined/profit-centric attendee benefits

  • Knowledge, experience, and presentation skills of speakers.

Source: Food Safety Summit