Oklahoma State University - Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center
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FAPC to hold Quality Management Roundtable Oct. 15
(Stillwater, Okla. – September 18, 2008)
The Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center, located on the Oklahoma State University campus, will hold a quarterly roundtable about best quality management practices related to the food processing industry in Oklahoma. The first roundtable will be held Oct. 15, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. to noon in room 120 of the FAPC.
The Quality Management Roundtable was designed for the presentation, discussion and sharing of information on current quality management, best practices and customer-driven issues related to the food processing industry, said Jason Young, FAPC quality management specialist.
“The FAPC believes there is a need for an interactive forum on current quality management practices,” Young said. “Participants will have the opportunity to personally connect with other industry management, who continually are looking for better ways to improve quality and meet the ever-changing customer quality management criteria.”
The event will begin with a Roundtable Café to help generate topics for future roundtables and to share best practices.
Topics covered in the roundtable will include, but are not limited to, new and emerging technologies, quality practices, sanitation, crisis management, statistical process control, validation and verification procedures, and current federal regulations pertaining to the food industry. After each forum, notes and materials related to the forum will be available at www.fapc.biz/roundtable.html.
The Quality Mangement Roundtable will integrate industry representatives, OSU personnel, state and federal official food safety professionals, and industry vendors, such as 3rd party quality and food safety auditors.
Gary Smith, technical director at Safe Quality Food Institute, will give a presentation on “Meeting SQF Criteria.”
“The SQF or Safe Quality Food criteria, a food safety management system, are designed to go beyond the current FDA or USDA required audit processes,” Young said. “At this time many food suppliers to Walmart are in the process of designing policies and procedures to meet the SQF criteria. Walmart announced last spring that food suppliers would have to meet full compliance to the Global Food Safety Initiative Standards by July 2009.”
The registration fee is $20 per participant, which includes refreshments, lunch and handouts. Additional roundtables will be held in January, April, July and October of 2009.
For more details or to register, click here.
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CONTACT:
Jason Young
Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center
148 FAPC
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-7304
Fax: 405-744-6313
E-Mail: jason.young@okstate.edu
Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local Governments Cooperating. The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, or status as a veteran, and is an equal opportunity employer.
