Battle Creek, MI (PRWEB) June 23, 2010
The International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI), presenting at the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) 114th Annual Educational Conference, announced its inaugural Fellowship in Food Protection. This unique program is designed to provide a select group of future leaders from across the state and local food protection community with an intense professional development experience focused on critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills within the framework of food regulatory science, law and policy. The Fellowship in Food Protection is a series of three week-long training sessions that will be held at the Institute in Battle Creek, Michigan over the course of one year beginning in August, 2010. The sessions are divided in the following subjects: 1) Law, 2) Policies, Strategies and Tools, 3) Labeling, 4) Evolving Science of Food Protection, 5) Food Systems Control Applications, and 6) Prevention, Intervention and Response. The Fellows will also complete research projects during the course of the year and will present their findings at the 2011 AFDO Conference in Plano, Texas.
In announcing the members of the 2010 Class of Fellows, Gerald Wojtala, Executive Director of IFPTI, said, We are proud to have attracted so many talented individuals from across the country. This program will encourage and support them as they develop into the next generation of regulatory officials dedicated to protecting the safety of the U.S. food supply.
Members of 2010 Class of Fellows:
Natalie M. Adan, Georgia Department of Agriculture
Gary W. Elliott, South Carolina Dept. of Health and Environmental Control
Jamie L. Winchester (Hulbert), State of Alaska - Department of Environmental Conservation
Michael Lombardi, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Angela F. Montalbano, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets
Jacqueline C. Owens, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture - Bureau of Food Safety and Inspection
Lucas D. Pols, Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services, Michigan
Julie H. Ray, Virginia Department of Health
Katherine A. Simon, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Dairy & Food Inspection Division
Holly A. Skogley, Linn County Environmental Health Program, Oregon
Mark Stevan Walker, City of Lubbock Health Department, Texas
Gretchen Weisenburger, Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, Kentucky
About IFPTI
The International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization delivering career-spanning food protection training for state and local food protection professionals to assure competency and equivalency in meeting established U.S. federal food safety standards. Working in partnership with the Association of Food and Drug Officials, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Institute seeks to protect the public's health by working with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial food protection officials in the creation of an integrated national food protection system that ensures the safety of the U.S. food supply. IFPTI training programs are delivered at the Kendall Center through a partnership with Western Michigan University. Initial funding for IFPTI has been provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.ifpti.org.
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