Dozens of New Exhibitors, Opening Night Reception, and Two Education Theaters to Be Featured in the Exhibit Hall of the 2016 Food Safety Summit

ROSEMONT, IL--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2016) - For the first time in its 18-year history, The Food Safety Summit, the leading conference and trade show focused solely on food safety, will be held in Rosemont, IL, centrally located to thousands of food industry professionals. The industry is showing their support for the move as dozens of new companies join veterans of the event on the show floor and throughout the education program. The Food Safety Summit will take place from May 10-12, 2016 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, with certification courses beginning on Monday, May 9^th. 

"With nearly 190 exhibiting companies, the largest show floor in the events history, there will be thousands of new products and services for professionals from the entire food industry to preview during the three-day event," said Scott Wolters, Director of the Food Safety Summit. "We are thrilled with the response to the new location in the Midwest. The exhibit hall will see a 15% increase in exhibitors and we have seen a significant increase in the number of registered attendees. The 2016 Food Safety Summit is certainly a must attend event."

One of the features of the Summit will be our Solutions Stage Theaters where free presentations will showcase subject matter experts who will educate attendees on food safety issues and technologies and provide insight into potential solutions. The schedule of session includes:

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

• NSF/H1 Food Machinery Lubricants: Understanding the Basics - Ellie Girard, OEM Marketing Analyst, LUBRIPLATE Lubricants Company - (11:30am - 12:00pm)
  
  
• Fact or Frictionless: Food Safety in a Digital World - Matt Schiering, VP/GM, Sani Professional (12:00 - 12:30pm)
  
  
• Brand Protection is More than Verifying FSMA Compliance - Christina Romas, SVP, Repositrak and Mary Jo Maffei-Panagos, Director of Food Safety, Central Grocers, Inc. (12:30 - 1:00pm)
  
  
• Food Safety Labeling: Linerless On Demand Printed Labels - John Short, Marketing Director, NAStar Inc. (1:00 - 1:30pm)
  
  
• Holistic Economics: How Technology is Enabling Integration of Operations and the Laboratory & Improving Food Safety Culture - Lars Boesgaard, CFO, Roka Bioscience (1:30 - 2:00pm)
  
  
• From Brand Protection to Brand Performance: How Quality, Compliance & Risk Can Create Measurable Improvements in Brand Performance - Mitch Porche, CEO, ComplianceMetrix (2:15 - 2:45pm)
  
  
• Foreign Body Contamination: Striking A Balance Between Profits and Food Safety - Rob Tiernay, Director of Sales, and Christopher Young, Product Marketing, Anritsu Infivis Inc. (3:15 - 3:45pm)
  
  
• Hygienic Design of Drainage Systems - Mark Haydon, Strategic Manager, Building Drainage, ACO Polymer Products, Inc. (4:15 - 4:45pm)
  
  

Thursday, May 12, 2016

• Take the Lab to the Sample - Modular and Mobile Food Testing Laboratories - Dan Palmer, President, Art's-Way Scientific, Inc. (11:30am -12:00om)
  
  
• Possibilities and Limitations for Phage Bio-Control in the Meat Industry - Lessons Learned from 10 Years of Applying Phages in Industrial Settings - Dr Steven Hagens, Micreos (12:00PM - 12:30PM)
  
  
• Preparing for a Food Safety Audit - Annette Pendleton, Director of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance, WDS Inc. (12:30PM - 1:00PM)
  
  
• Food Safety Auditing and Data Trend Analysis - Bill Bremer, Principal, Food Safety Compliance, Evan Fitzgerald, Principal, Information Technology, and Jesse Kunes, Director, Sales & Marketing, Kestrel Management (1:00PM - 1:30PM)
  
  
• Product Inspection Solutions for FSMA Preparedness - Robert Rogers, Senior Advisor Food Safety, Mettler Toledo (1:30PM - 2:00PM)
  
  

The Exhibit Hall will be open on Tuesday, May 10, 5pm-7pm -- with the welcome reception; Wednesday, May 11, 11am-2pm; and Thursday, May 12, 11am-2pm. Among the exhibitors are Welcome Reception and Gold Sponsor Roka Bioscience, Silver Sponsor Alchemy and Bronze Sponsor Eurofins. The exhibitors and attendees are also supporting the Food Safety Summit Gives Back Wednesday evening networking event benefiting Feeding America. Click here to make a donation to this worthwhile organization, which distributes nearly 4 billion pounds of food and grocery items to more than 37 million people each year. The Food Safety Summit will match all donations received and will recognize Feeding America at the Wednesday evening reception.

Beginning on Monday, May 9^th three certification courses will be offered including Preventive Controls for Human Foods, Seafood HACCP, and Food Safety Auditor Training. On Tuesday, May 10^th the Association of Food & Drug Officials (AFDO) will present the 2^nd Annual Integration Forum, which will bring together high ranking FDA officials, state and local food safety agencies to discuss the continuing efforts and projects in place to integrate government resources dedicated to food safety in this country. 

Tuesday's schedule also includes three hands-on workshops followed by two full days of education. The 20+ education sessions will include the Keynote Presentation on the New Food Safety Environment; the 5^th Annual Town Hall meeting with representatives from the FDA, AFDO, CDC and USDA; and the Hot Topics Closing Session where respected leaders in the industry will address some of the most pressing issues facing the industry. The Keynote Presentation, Town Hall and Hot Topics Session will be interactive discussion formats. To submit a question for any of the general sessions prior to the event, click here.

Early bird discount rates are available until Friday, April 15^th. Registration is open and the full conference program is available at www.foodsafetysummit.com.

About the Food Safety Summit
The Food Safety Summit is a solutions based conference and expo designed to meet the educational and information needs of the entire food industry including processors, distributors, growers, retailers, foodservice operators, and academia. The Expo Hall includes industry vendors providing information on the newest products and services for the food safety industry. The Food Safety Summit will be held Tuesday, May 10 through Thursday, May 12, 2016 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. Certification Courses will begin on Monday, May 9, 2016. Details and registration information are available at www.foodsafetysummit.com or call 303-530-0205 x27.