The International Association for Food Protection set the Preliminary Program for IAFP 2013 – the Association’s Annual Meeting, July 28–31 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The meeting has earned recognition as the leading food safety conference. Online registration and preliminary program information are available on the Association Web site.

The meeting begins Sunday evening, July 28, with the Opening Session featuring the Ivan Parkin Lecture, followed by the Cheese and Wine Reception held in the Exhibit Hall. This year’s honored lecturer is David W.K. Acheson, Leavitt Partners. Monday morning starts three days of sessions with over 800 presentations including 42 symposia, 11 roundtable sessions, 128 technical presentations, and more than 500 poster presentations. A sample of symposia topics include: Linking Pests and Pathogens of Food Safety; Sanitation Stories: Tall But True; Benefits of Food Safety Beyond Saving Lives; and Farm to Fork Cantaloupe Risks and Interventions. The Ninth Annual John H. Silliker Lecture will be presented on Wednesday afternoon, featuring Dane Bernard, Keystone Foods LLC. For additional educational opportunities, IAFP 2013 will present four pre-meeting workshops on July 26 and July 27.

 Attendance is expected to exceed 2,500 of the top industry, academic, and government food safety professionals. This broad mix of attendees includes professionals in quality control, processing operations, regulatory inspections, food safety consulting, risk assessment, research and development, microbiological research, plant management, technical services, and HACCP management. The meeting will also showcase more than 140 companies demonstrating the latest products and technologies in the Exhibit Hall.