The 2021 Virtual Food Safety Summit will offer three full days of education sessions, access to vendors who will be showcasing the newest and most innovative food safety solutions and several online networking opportunities. This online event will take place Tuesday, May 11 through Thursday, May 13, 2021 and will feature an opening keynote by Craig Wilson, vice president, GMM, Costco, who will talk about The New Role and Responsibilities of the Food Safety Professional in the COVID-19 World; the Summit’s Annual Town Hall with leaders from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Association of Food and Drug Officials of the United States, with the additions of Sandra Eskin, new deputy under secretary for Food Safety, at the USDA and Sherri McGarry, COVID liaison for the FDA and CDC; and an interactive closing session Beyond COVID: Let’s Work the Problem People – A Guide to Flexible Crisis Planning. On Monday, May 10, the Summit will kick off with Intentional Adulteration: Conducting Vulnerability Assessment Course. Click here to register.

“We have developed a stellar education program which will offer many new speakers from McDonald’s, Rutgers Climate Institute, Hogan Lovells, Cargill, United Fresh, New York Department of Agriculture, Sysco Specialty Meats, Public Supermarket, and many returning speakers who will offer our attendees solutions for today and plans for tomorrow,” said Scott Wolters, chief events officer, BNP Media, producers of the Summit. “We thank our Educational Advisory Board and all of our exhibitors for their continued support of our virtual format. We are excited to bring our community together online to have access to three days of live and on demand sessions, robust content, networking opportunities with peers, and an interactive exhibit hall.”

Each morning of the Summit will kick off with a two-hour workshop from 8:00 am – 10:00 am Central Time focused on “State of the Industry” – Effects of COVID-19 on Current and Future Management Practices on Tuesday, May 11; RoadMap to Food Safety Culture on Wednesday, May 12; and What Does Traceability Mean for Me and My Business? On Thursday, May 13. The Summit has also partnered with the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance to offer the Intentional Adulteration: Conducting Vulnerability Assessment Certificate Course to be held on Monday, May 10. 

Eighteen one-hour sessions will offer insight from subject matter experts on such hot topics as how ventilation can reduce disease transmission, virtual auditing, the new OSHA enforcements, food safety leadership, mutual reliance, food safety challenges with plant-based foods, working with local public health officials, retail and new business, how climate affects the food supply chain, managing unintended consequences, and international impact on food supply imports, to name a few. Visit https://www.food-safety.com/food-safety-summit/agenda for the sessions and speakers.

From 12:00–2:30 pm CT, each day of the event, the virtual exhibit hall will be open and feature Gold Sponsor Purell; Silver Sponsors Applied Food Diagnostics and Millipore Sigma; and Bronze Sponsor Elisa Technologies. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from technology companies in the Tech Tent and attend live sponsored education sessions on the Solutions Stage with informative presentations from Millipore Sigma, Orkin, Hexagon, Intertek Alchemy, FoodLogiQ, Mettler Toledo, Controlant, Perkin Elmer, Inficon, Beekeeper, One Event Technologies, WeRFood Safety, Safety Chain, AFCO, IFS, and others. 

For more information, on sponsorship or exhibiting opportunities contact Kim Hansen at hansenk@bnpmedia.com. For more information and updates for the 2021 event, visit www.foodsafetysummit.com or follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

The virtual Summit is $399 to attend the full conference, which includes access to the entire platform, including virtual exhibit booths, all live and on-demand education sessions, the ability to participate in group discussions and networking events with colleagues and speakers, and more! There is also a FREE option to attend the Summit for those that would like to visit the Exhibit Hall and attend only the General Sessions each day (three sessions total). Registration is now open at https://www.food-safety.com/food-safety-summit. 

The Food Safety Summit is owned and produced by Food Safety Magazine (www.food-safety.com) and BNP Media (www.bnpmedia.com), one of the country's leading business-to-business media companies serving industry professionals across 60+ industries through magazines, custom media, e-newsletters, webinars, events, and market research.