News

Washington Association for Food Protection 67th Annual Conference – September 20-21, 2018.

Golf Tournament September 19, 2018.

Details, agenda and registration: waffp.com/wp1/conferences-events/

UPDATE – Restricting the Marketing of Unhealthy Foods to Children

On May 8, 2018, Health Canada published an update on its proposed direction for the development of regulations to restrict the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children. This update reflects policy development since receiving feedback from the 75-day public consultation launched on June 10, 2017.

The update is available on the Canada.ca website at: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/programs/consultation-restricting-unhealthy-food-and-beverage-marketing-to-children/update-proposed-regulations.html

Hi all,

The IAFP has published their 2018 Spring Newsletter, Affiliate View. They have posted our AGM event summary. We welcome everyone to have a read when you have the chance!

https://www.foodprotection.org/upl/downloads/publications/affiliates-view/spring%202018.pdf

We are organizing a Spring Speaker's Evening on "Biopreservation: Biological Solutions To Biological Problems" on May 3, 2018, at the Langara Clubhouse (Langara Golf Course) in Vancouver (6706 Alberta Street, Vancouver). Complimentary parking is available.

Registration, schedule, rates and speaker line-up are now found on our event page of our website. Due to scheduling conflicts, our Sani Marc speaker will no longer be able to speak at our event. We have found another amazing speaker who will speak on biopreservatives.

To register, click here - http://www.bcfoodprotection.ca/event-2890579

Our poster is available here - click here

Featured Speakers: Lynn McMullen & Siyun Wang

Speaker Bios - click here

This event has been generously sponsored by Sani Marc

Visit our website to register and for more information www.bcfoodprotection.ca

Register by April 23 to take advantage of our early bird rate!

Sustaining Member Display Tables available on first-come, first-serve basis. Contact us at info@bcfoodprotection.ca to reserve a table!

Schedule:
5:00-5:20 PM Registration
5:20-5:30 PM Welcome Remarks
5:30-6:30 PM Speaker: Lynn McMullen on "Biopreservation - From Benchtop To Commercial Reality"
6:30-7:15 PM Dinner
7:15-8:00 PM Speaker: Siyun Wang on "Bacteriophages as a Strategy for Food Safety Enhancement"
8:00-8:10 PM Closing Remarks & Door Prizes

Lynn McMullen
Professor, Food Microbiology, University of Alberta

Dr. McMullen is a Professor of food microbiology in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta. Her research for the past 20+ years has focused on the microbiological safety and quality of meat products, particularly with respect to controlling the growth of bacteria on meat. Her research focuses on antimicrobial peptides as biopreservatives and the application of interventions to reduce bacterial populations on meat. She is the Scientific Lead of the Meat Safety and Processing Research Unit, a level II biocontainment meat processing research facility where research with foodborne pathogens can be done under conditions similar to that found in the meat industry. 

Lynn will present on: “Biopreservation - From Benchtop To Commercial Reality”.

Abstract: In recent years, concerns about the safety and quality of foods have increased the attention given to the discovery and development of new methods of preservation of foods. Biopreservation with lactic acid bacteria that produce antimicrobial compounds has been a focus of research at the University of Alberta since the late 1980s. This has included fundamental research on understanding the genetics of production of antimicrobials and structure function relationships of different antimicrobial compounds that can be used to target specific pathogens. The fundamental research was coupled with research on the application of biopreservatives in meat products to control pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes. This presentation will tell the story of how the research on biopreservation became a commercial reality and how research continues to support commercial activities.

Siyun Wang
Assistant Professor, Food Safety Engineering, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia

Dr. Wang is an Assistant Professor of Food Safety Engineering at the University of British Columbia. Siyun received her BSc degree in Pharmacy from Fudan University (2005) and PhD degree in Biology from the Institute for Food Safety and Health at Illinois Tech (2010). Prior to joining UBC in 2013, she was a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. Her research group utilizes systems biology approaches to understand the microorganisms that post major threats to food safety and public health. Over the past five years, she has worked with BC-based growers and food producers on resolving food safety issues using innovative strategies. Dr. Wang was awarded the Young Researcher Initiative from the European Food Safety Authority, and a travel grant for young women scientists in underrepresented disciplines by the National Science Foundation of the U.S.

Siyun will present on: “Bacteriophages as a Strategy for Food Safety Enhancement”.

Abstract: It is a big challenge to control foodborne bacterial pathogens in foods and food processing environment. Phages lytic to foodborne pathogens have been explored to reduce the contamination of Salmonella enterica, Shigella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and Shiga-toxigenic E. coli in food supply systems. This talk will present a current overview of commercially-available phage-based products, as well as recent research findings contributing to the improvement of phage-based food safety strategies.

You may have received this through other channels:

NOW LIVE: Canada’s Food Guide Consultation – Phase 2: What We Heard Report

As part of the Healthy Eating Strategy, Health Canada is revising Canada’s Food Guide to reflect new evidence and meet the needs of various audiences who use the healthy eating recommendations. In the summer of 2017, over 6700 stakeholders and Canadians provided input to the second consultation for the revision of Canada’s Food Guide. The What We Heard Report presents the results from the consultation.  The report is now available online: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/publications/food-nutrition/canada-food-guide-phase2-what-we-heard.html

You are invited to share this notice with your networks.

Should you have any questions about the revision of Canada’s Food Guide, please email nutrition@hc-sc-gc.ca with the subject line: Canada’s Food Guide revision. If you are interested in receiving information about nutrition initiatives please add yourself to the CSIMS registry here:  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/public-consult/stakeholder-intervenants/index-eng.php

For the “areas of interest” page, be sure to include ‘‘Canada’s Food Guide/Nutrition.’’

Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion

Health Canada

FYI. From Health Canada:

Dear Interested Canadians and Stakeholders,

Health Canada launched the Healthy Eating Strategy for Canada on October 24, 2016. The goal of the Healthy Eating Strategy is to create a food environment where the healthier choice is the easier choice. Chronic diseases are a major public health concern in Canada. Unhealthy diets high in saturated fat, sugars and sodium are one of the top risk factors for obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Health Canada is proposing to introduce mandatory front-of-package labelling for foods that are high in nutrients of public health concern, namely saturated fat, sugars and/or sodium. Front-of-package labelling will provide quick and easy guidance to help you make informed choices about packaged foods and help improve the nutritional quality of packaged foods available in the marketplace.

Health Canada is launching a consultation on front-of-package labelling. The official Canada Gazette, Part I consultation will take place from February 10 to April 26, 2018. Please note that the Canada Gazette is available online on Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern time, ahead of its publication on Saturday.

Since we want to hear from as many Canadians as possible, we have also created a short, consumer-friendly online consultation for you to tell us which front-of-package nutrition symbol you find useful. This consultation is open today until April 26, 2018.

Your responses will help guide the choice of a nutrition symbol for the front of food packages in Canada. We invite you to participate in both front-of-package labelling consultations and to spread the news about the consultations to your family, friends and colleagues.

Health Canada will be holding a one hour webinar on March 1, 2018 that will provide a technical overview of the Regulations Amending the Food and Drug Regulations (Nutrition Symbols, Other Labelling Provisions, Partially Hydrogenated Oils and Vitamin D) posted in Canada Gazette Part I on February 10, 2018.

We invite you to send us any questions you may have about the regulatory package by  February 22, 2018. We will use your questions to inform the webinar content. Please submit your questions to: Nut.Labelling-Etiquetage@hc-sc.gc.ca

Invitations to the webinar are forthcoming.

Thank you.

Our 2017 AGM Survey is now out. Please take a few minutes of your time to fill this out, thank you! Your feedback is greatly appreciated in helping us plan our future events!

https://goo.gl/forms/TwdipBVohN9MA5Hw1

Click here to read our BCFPA Grapevine Newsletter (January 19, 2018, Vol 5, Issue 01)!

Hello BCFPA Members!

For those interested in sponsoring our events and student activities, we have a sponsorship form available on our website.

Click here

Dear BCFPA Members,

On behalf of the BC Food Protection Association Executive Board, we would like to thank you for your generous support in 2017. We hope you consider renewing your membership for 2018.

We would like to inform you of our 2017 Annual General Meeting on January 29, 2018 at the Shadbolt Centre for the Performing Arts (6450 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, BC).

Visit our website to register and for more information: www.bcfoodprotection.ca

Registration has been extended to January 28! Register today to attend our AGM!

Attendance is FREE for BCFPA Members who renewed in 2018 and for members from 2017!
Register here: https://bcfoodprotection.wildapricot.org/event-2774390

Sustaining Member Display Tables are available on first-come, first-serve basis. Interested in sponsoring? Contact Peter Taylor at info@bcfoodprotection.ca to sponsor our event or to reserve your table today! Our sponsorship package form will be distributed in the next few days for those interested in sponsoring our events.

We are accepting nominations to run in our 2018 Executive Board. If you are interested in volunteering, please talk to us in person or send us an email! We are always looking for volunteers!

Schedule:
5:00-5:30 PM    Registration
5:30-5:45 PM    Welcome Remarks & AGM Business
5:45-6:35 PM    Speaker: Dr. Peter Slade on "Food Safety Risk Intelligence"
6:35-7:20 PM    Dinner
7:20-7:30 PM    Scholarship Presentation & Awards
7:30-8:00 PM    Speaker: Justin Falardeau on "Microbial safety of surface waters used for irrigation in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia"
8:00-8:15 PM    Closing Remarks & Door Prizes

Speaker biography and topic description available - click here

The 2016 AGM Minutes and 2017 AGM Report will be made available for our members at the meeting or click here to view.

To streamline our communications process, we will have only ONE BCFPA email address for all future communications. If you wish to contact any of our executives, please send your emails to:
info@bcfoodprotection.ca and please add this to your address book for future reference! Thank you!